_.jpg)
Tennessee Meat Goats™ were developed by Suzanne Gasparotto at Onion Creek Ranch in Buda, Texas. She selected Myotonic goats with the largest frames and heaviest muscles for breeding. The Myotonic goats were “improved” by breeding these larger and more muscled full-blood Myotonic goats to unrelated full-blood Myotonics. The resultant strain was named …
Multi-species Grazing Can Improve Utilization of Pastures
By Jodie Pennington, Small Ruminant Educator, Lincoln University, Newton County Extension Center, Neosho, MO 64850
Multi-species grazing is the practice of using two or more livestock species together or separately on the same pasture-land in a specific growing season. With an understanding of the different grazing behaviors of each species, various combinations of animals can be used to more efficiently utilize the forages in a pasture. Different species of livestock prefer different forages …
There are two kinds of decisions that meat goat breeders must make. They first must make decisions such as which individuals become parents, how many offspring they may produce, and how long they remain in the breeding population. Meat goat breeders then must also decide which bucks to breed to which does. That is a mating decision.
Mating decisions fall into two general categories, inbreeding and outbreeding. Inbreeding is most often practiced by purebred breeders who are producing the parent …
Weed management is one of the important aspects for maintaining healthy, productive pastures. Any plant that emerges at an unwanted spot is called a weed. Whether a plant is considered a weed may differ from one production system to another. For example, a weed in a cattle grazing system may not necessarily be a weed in a goat grazing system, such as briers. Although goats eat a wide variety of plants …
Introduction, Rationale and Significance
Small ruminants such as sheep and goats have an advantage over bovines in terms of size and adaptability to foraging and browsing. It is this distinctiveness which allows them to be used as an alternative to the use of herbicides or prescribed burning for tree farm planting preparation, rangeland improvement, or enhancement of recreational area landscape. In most states, significant portions of land …
Youth programs with goats generally focus around 4-H and FFA projects. Often these programs involve selection of animals and production for showing the animals at fairs and other livestock shows. The most common goat project for youth is the market kid project. Another popular project is the dairy goat project. Breeding stock and showmanship are two types of show programs that youth also participate in. There are also special fiber goat shows. Fiber shows can include both live animal and …
Almost 8 million tons of cottonseeds with a product value of $800 million were produced in the United States in 2005. Most of the cottonseeds are produced in the southern and southeastern United States. Texas, with almost 3 million tons valued at $300 million, leads the nation; and Alabama, with 275,000 tons valued at $25 million, was ranked tenth in cottonseed production in 2005 (USDA-NASS). Table 1 presents the Top 10 states in the nation producing cottonseeds.
Top States for Number of Meat Goats
Most of the meat goats in the United States are produced in states in the Mid-South (Texas), the Southeast (Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida and Alabama), the Midwest (Oklahoma, Missouri) and the West (California). More than 75 percent of meat goats are produced by the top 10 states in number of meat goats. According to the 2007 USDA-NASS sample data, Texas leads the nation with more 1 million meat goats and 44 …
Cornell University: NYS 4-H Dairy Goat Program
Langston University: Grade A dairy goat farm requirements (for Oklahoma; contact your State Department of Agriculture)
Pennsylvania State University: Goat Housing and Equipment (includes milking barns/milk house plans)
University of California: Raising Dairy Goat Kids (PDF)
Washington State University Extension: Your Dairy Goat (PDF)
Alabama Cooperative Extension System: Nutrition Requirements of Sheep and Goats
Langston University: Nutritional Requirements (Calculator); Body Condition Scoring; Goat diet/feed examples
Tuskegee …
This breed was developed by Onion Creek Ranch through several generations of crossing Tennessee Meat Goats™ with Boer goats. The purpose of the breed was to develop a meat goat breed to meet commercial demands such as low maintenance, efficient feed utilization, good mothering skills, rapid growth, and thrifty kids. TexMasters™, like Tennessee Meat Goats™, may be registered with Pedigree …
