Over the years, many folks from Canada have attended Goat School here in Maine. They hailed from Toronto, Quebec, and the Maritimes. We never imagined, however, that we would be traveling to Canada to do a Goat School, let alone British Columbia! This is the stuff that dreams are made of!
On Friday, September 13th, and Saturday, September 14th, we’ll be presenting our educational program, Goat School, to the Peace River Forage Association of British Columbia along with any other interested folks who would like to attend! We will also be teaching a Goat Cheese and Goat Milk Soap Making Class on Sunday, September 15th. For more information about these upcoming Goat School classes, please click here.
As the demand for goat meat increases, more farms are looking into the possibility of raising goats alongside their other animals. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, there were approximately 225,000 goats on 9,000 Canadian farms in 2011. The country, however, is still importing 660,000 kg of goat meat each year!
The majority of Canadian customers are immigrants from countries such as Croatia, Jamaica, Italy, and India. The owner of East African & Asian Restaurants can’t find steady, readily available sources of goat meat and often have to substitute lamb in their dishes. As the immigration rate increases in Canada, so does the demand for goat meat.
And, just as an aside, the same is true in the United States! Frozen goat meat is imported from Australia and New Zealand at a rate of 145,000 pounds per week.
Once we leave British Columbia, we’ll be traveling 2,300 south east to Ohio. The Highland Quality Living Center, in Hillsboro, Ohio is sponsoring a Goat School on Saturday, September 21st, and Sunday, September 22nd, with a Goat Cheese and Goat Milk Soap Making Class on Monday, September 23rd. For more information on these classes, please click here!
This Goat School promises to be great fun, with loads of educational information.
After 25 years in the “goat business” we’ve personally experienced plenty of goat situations, but also though the advent of email, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter, we’ve helped folks all over the globe with their “goat problems”. We’ve raised Angora Goats, Meat Goats, and Dairy Goats, and we’ve loved them all. They are all different, require different methods of feeding, and caregiving, and even have different personalities! All of this information makes our Goat Schools, informative and entertaining!
We are already in the planning stages of a Spring, 2014 Goat School here at our farm in Saint Albans Maine! You can click here for the dates, details, and registration form, or go to our website www.goatschool.com where you will find directions to the farm, and information about flights and accommodations to and in our area. Spring in Maine is breathtakingly beautiful, come and join us!
Need help in the meantime? Our Goat School Manual is available in our Goat School Shop!