Get your goats

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Many of the goats sold at the SEMO Meat Goat Producers' Association's sixth annual goat sale will eventually end up on pizzas.

On Tuesday, about 50 producers delivered more than 1,300 goats to the sale at the old Bollinger County Salebarn near Marble Hill. That's a lot of pepperoni potential.

"That's a little unknown fact, real good pepperoni has goat meat in it," said Steve Wagoner, president of the association. "My favorite way to cook the goat is to put it in a crock pot or barbecue it. It's cooked like deer; anything that works for deer works for goat."

Wagoner and his wife, Alice, sold 15 goats in Tuesday's sale. The couple has been raising goats for the past five years.

Larry Stotts manuevered a goat into a holding pen.

"Goat meat is actually really good; it has a little bit of a sweet taste," Alice said. "It is a really lean meat."

Tuesday's sale was the by far largest collection of goats brought to the sale barn. Producers brought 780 goats last year.

Membership numbers in the SEMO Meat Goat Producers Association have doubled in the past year; Wagoner said area producers are raising more goats than ever before.

"This is really a growing market," Wagoner said.

In fact, goat production is one of the fastest growing markets in the agricultural industry, said Katie Godsey, treasurer of the association. "The demand for goat meat continues to outpace the American farmers' ability to produce it."

Raising goats is just as profitable as cattle, Godsey said. And since they are smaller animals, goats are easier to raise.

A producer can raise a cow on one acre of land, while seven goats can be raised on the same amount of land.

Late Monday night, producers started bringing goats to the sale barn. By 4 p.m. Tuesday, all 1,350 goats were divided into specific weight and age categories.

Godsey said any producer can consign his or her goats in the sale, and then the association will take bids for the goats.

"Generally the entire group of goats goes to one buyer," Godsey said.

This year a buyer from New Holland, Pa. bid the highest for the entire collection of goats. The goats, divided into their age and weight groups, are priced by the pound.

For example, a goat less than 40 pounds went for $1.28 per pound. And a female goat over 2 years old, went for 65 cents per pound.

"This is a little lower than what we received last year, but we anticipated that the current cost of diesel would affect the price we received," Godsey said.

Bill Sheehy, the sale organizer, said the association won't know until next week how much money was made from the goat sale.

Producers brought anywhere from one to 200 goats to the sale; the majority were male.

This was the first time in 15 years the old Bollinger County Salebarn, built in the 1950s, has been used.

jfreeze@semissourian.com