Iowa Farmers Adapt to Serve New Ethnic Markets

Ethnic groups that have recently immigrated to the Midwest are creating new opportunities for Iowa farmers.

Immigrants bring their cultures with them, and one of the most important aspects of any culture is, of course, diet. Many Iowa farmers have recognized this opportunity and have adapted to produce what the new consumers desire.

Take, for example, the goat. A decade or so ago, your average goat in Iowa was probably raised to produce milk for a small niche market. Or more likely, it was kept as a pet and only expected to keep the weeds under control around the barnyard.

Iowa still has plenty of dairy goats, but now there's a new breed of goat that's raised specifically for its meat. And this isn't your grandfather's goat. These are stocky, muscular critters that look like they've been lifting weights. The breed, Boer, originated in South Africa and can be identified by its big muscles, white body and red head.There's even an Iowa Meat Goat Association, created in 2003 to help farmers get into and be successful in the meat goat business. The group's president, Eric Finch, said there are 180 members of the organization, with many more farmers around the state raising meat goats.

"I would guess that not even half of the people raising goats in Iowa are yet members of our organization," said Finch in an interview with Iowa Independent. "It's really gaining in popularity to raise these goats, primarily because you can raise them on a small amount of land." He said that raising meat goats works well on a 5- to 10-acre property, and a farmer can get into the business with a relatively small initial investment.

Farmers raising meat goats are often selling directly to the consumer and receiving a premium for their livestock. "Right now I would say the majority of meat goats in Iowa are sold directly off the farm to ethnic groups, or they're sold through a local sale barn auction," said Finch. He said there is a goat slaughter facility in Shannon, Ill., and there is a group from Minnesota that has been purchasing large numbers of meat goats from northern Iowa to supply ethnic meat markets and restaurants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. "It's not like a delicacy to them;it's a staple of their diet," he said.

Finch has been raising meat goats on his farm near State Center for about seven years. He's got about 200 of them right now, and many of them will be sold directly to immigrants. "For us, because of our proximity to Marshalltown, our main clientele is Hispanic," he said. "There also is a large number of Sudanese refugees in the Des Moines metro area, and we're selling some to them." Finch said that immigrants from the Middle East and southern Asia also have purchased his goats.

So what does it taste like? Well, Finch said, it's not like lamb. "It's more like beef. I would say it's like a cross between beef and deer, but it has the texture of beef. It's a very lean meat, so you've got to cook it real slow or marinate it," he said.

Finch said that a market-ready meat goat will sell for approximately $1.10 per pound live weight, not a bad price for a livestock animal. They can thrive on a varied diet, but they won't, in fact,  eat everything. "Almost, but not everything," said Finch. "Goats can adapt to a wide and varied diet. The main thing is to have a balanced diet in the winter time, fortified with minerals and vitamins. I know people that feed them strictly grass hay. Some people feed them alfalfa. They'll eat corn. They'll eat soybeans. They'll eat oats."

Finch said the he's experimenting with feeding distiller's grains, a byproduct of Iowa's many ethanol plants, to his goats. "Currently on our farm we're really experimenting with using the distiller's grains coming out of the ethanol plants," he said. "The wet distiller's grain or the liquid form, condensed distiller's syrup, we're mixing it in with hay and some corn stalks,and we put it out there and they love it."

Photo courtesy Iowa Meat Goat Association.