World Consumption of Sheep and Goat Meat

There is a widely-publicized myth that goat meat (chevon) is the most widely-consumed meat in the world. It is not. In fact, it is mathematically impossible, given the number of goats in the world and the yield of an individual goat. Even if you increased world goat population figures by 10-fold, it is still impossible.

In addition, the consumption of sheep and goat meat is usually lumped together. It is often left out of data sets, because it is so minor compared to the major meats. And it is harder to obtain accurate data pertaining to sheep and goat meat consumption, as the animals are often slaughtered on-farm and consumed locally.

The most widely-consumed meats in the world (in order) are pork, poultry, and beef. While it's possible that more people in the world eat goat meat (and sheep meat) than pork, poultry, or beef, most consumers of goat meat live in the developing world, where the per capita meat consumption is very low. It may be their preferred meat, but they don't eat a lot of it.

The table (above) shows the countries of the world that consume the most sheep and goat meat. Some countries probably eat more lamb, others more goat. The data is from 2007. The source is the Food & Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

In the United States, the per capita consumption of lamb is only about 1 lb. The consumption of goat meat is unknown. On the plus side, the consumption of lamb and goat (in the U.S.) is considerably higher among certain ethnic groups, and demand exceeds supply.

Sheep cloned with "good" fat

Chinese scientists have cloned a genetically-modified sheep containing a "good' type of fat that is naturally found in nuts, seeds, fish, and leafy greens and helps to reduce the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease.

"Peng Peng", which has a roundworm fat gene, weighed in at 5.74 kg (12.6 lbs.) when it was born on March 26 in a laboratory in China's far western region of Xinjiang.

Peng Peng

Image source: Peng Lui/BGI Ark Biotechnology co.,Ltd/Handout , Reuters

According to the lead scientist, Peng Peng  is growing very well and is very healthy like a normal sheep.

Read full article at Science on MSNBC.com

North Atlantic Native Sheep Conference

A North Atlantic Native Sheep & Wool Conference will be held March 29 through April 1, 2012, in Norway.

The conference will feature information about sheep and wool from native sheep around the North Atlantic Sea:  Iceland, Faroe Island, Orkney, Shetland, Nebrides, and Norway.

For more information, visit the conference web site or contact Karin Flatøy Svarstad at kfsvars@online.no.

Spanish shepherds protest urban sprawl

Spanish shepherds led flocks of sheep through the streets of central Madrid in defense of ancient grazing, migration and droving rights threatened by urban sprawl.

Jesus Garzon, president of a shepherds council established in 1273, said some 5,000 sheep and 60 cattle crossed the city to exercise the right to droving routes that existed before Madrid grew from a rural hamlet to the great capital it is today.

Photo:  AFP/Getty

Shepherds have a right to use 78,000 miles of paths for seasonal livestock migrations from cool highland pastures in summer to warmer grazing in winter. The movement is called transhumance and in Spain it involves around a million animals, mostly sheep and cattle.

Some paths have been used annually for more than 800 years and modern-day Madrid is in the way of two north-south routes, one dating back to 1372.

Read full Telegraph article

Thanks to Jeff Semler for suggesting this entry.

IGA newsletter now online

The April 2011 issue of the International Goat Association (IGA) newsletter is now online.

The International Goat Association promotes goat research and development for the benefit of humankind, to alleviate poverty, to promote prosperity, and to improve the quality of life.

Membership dues are $47.50 per year; $147.50, if you want an annual subscription to the Small Ruminant Journal.

April 2011 issue

Check out these newsletters

The January 2011 issue of the International Goat Association (IGA) newsletter is now available on the web. IGA is a global network of people and organizations linking research and production by sharing information, experience, and best practices.

IGA is currently experiencing problems with their web site.  Their temporary web site is http://www.wmaker.net/igagoatworld/.

The January 2011 issue of "Turning the Worm" is now available on the web. The main purpose of this informal newsletter is to share information with those particularly interested in the management of endoparasites of farmed animals, including sheep, goats and cattle.

The newsletter is edited by Stephen Love, Veterinarian and State Worm Coordinator for the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (Australia).

Download IGA newsletter | Past issues
Download Turning the Worm | Past issues

Record funding for vaccine development

Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, has received the largest grant ever to be awarded by the EU (European Union) in the field of animal health. Over 9 million Euros (over $11.7 million) has been secured by a Moredun-led “Paravac” consortium, in order to develop vaccines for important worm parasites which infect livestock.

Nematode parasites pose the greatest current threat to global agricultural productivity. Control of parasitic worms currently relies almost exclusively on the use of drugs, a solution threatened by the global emergence of worm populations that are resistant to the drugs used to control them.

An alternative, greener and more sustainable approach is to control these infestations by vaccination, and one of the specific aims of this grant will be to develop at least one prototype vaccine to the point of uptake by the commercial sector or through government/philanthropic agencies.

Read full article at VetsOnLine

New reference on goats

Goat Science and Production by Sandra G. Solaiman is the first text in several decades to present comprehensive, state-of-the-art information on goat science and production practices from an international perspective.

Wiley-Blackwell image

Including information on meat, dairy, and fiber goats, chapters are organized logically to facilitate fundamental understanding of goat anatomy and physiology as well as practical production applications.

Goat Science and Production begins with an overview of current global production, giving the reader necessary context to enhance subsequent chapters on breed variety, genetics, animal evaluation, and functional anatomy and physiology.

Later chapters expand on these concepts highlighting practical application affecting feeding practices, health and disease management, and housing requirements. Information on milk, meat, and fiber production is also addressed, along with a key chapter on formulating a business plan and marketing strategy.

Goat Science and Production is globally contributed and provides an essential introduction and reference for students, researchers, outreach personnel, and producers world-wide.

Editor's note:  Goat Science and Production can be purchased from Amazon.com and similar web vendors.

International Goat Association

The most recent issue of the International Goat Association Newsletter is available online at http://www.iga-goatworld.org/docs/2010-04_IGA_Newsletter.pdf.

The International Goat Association (IGA) promotes goat research and development for the benefit of humandkind, to alleviate poverty, to promote prosperity, and improve the quality of life. 

IGA has 260 individual and organizational members from 63 countries. Standard membership is $45. It provides online access to the Small Ruminant Journal.

World's most expensive sheep

A sheep named Deveronvale Perfection is believed to be the world's most expensive sheep, after selling for £231,000, an equivalent of $377,000, at the recent Scottish National Texel Sale.

The price was more than £100,000 pounds above the previous record for a Texel, a breed originating on the Dutch island of Texel, and above the previous record sheep sale in Australia in the 1980s.

Deveronvale Perfection is an 8 month old ram lamb, produced by embryo transfer. His high price is attributed to his strong physical attributes.

According to his buyer, "Deveronvale Perfection was the best lamb he had ever seen, with great strength and an incredibly chunky stature".

Thanks to Jeff Semler for suggesting this story.

The Poo-Canoe

Two Welshmen are set to paddle across the English Channel in a canoe made from sheep dung.

Lez Paylor and Lawrence Toms run Creative Paper Wales, where they produce paper made from sheep excrement. Animal poo paper is becoming more and more common as an environmentally safe way of producing paper.

Toms and Paylor have now embarked on a mission to build a canoe using only environmentally-friendly materials and to cover the frame with waterproofed poo paper. The pair are confident the canoe can be made seaworthy and have announced plans to paddle across the English Channel in aid of the Wales Air Ambulance.

Source: The Morningstarr*, July 18, 2009.

Help Sponsor the Poo-Canoe

Maryland 4-H Livestock Judging Team

Last November, the Maryland 4-H Livestock Judging Team placed 3rd at the National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest in Louisville, Kentucky. Team members included Claire and Troy Bennett, Drew Cashman, and Lukas Ziegler, all from Carroll County.

Because of their outstanding performance, the team received an opportunity to participate in the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, Scotland. After months of fund raising, the youth raised enough money. They left today (6/24) for the contest and a two week tour of European agriculture.

As a small thank you for the monetary and moral support they received, the team has set up a blog that they will be updating while they are in Europe. If you would like to follow along, you can view the blog at: http://mdlivestockjudging2009.blogspot.com/.

Breast milk from goats

Scientists are genetically engineering goats to produce the same milk as a human mother. They claim the breakthrough will allow babies whose mothers can't feed them to receive all the goodness of breast milk.

They say their work will also lead to the development of medicines exploiting the antibiotic qualities of lactoferrin, a protein found in women's milk. The relavations follow research by scientiests in Russia and Belarus in which male mice were implanted with human genes.

Ninety does sired by genetically-modified bucks goats are being raised on a secret farm outside Moscow.

Read online article at Mail Online

International Year of Natural Fibres

The United Nations has declared 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF). The world produces approximately 30 million tons of natural fibres of which wool represents 2 million tons.

As part of the IYNF, a non-for-profit organization, Keep the Fleece, is launching a 250K campaign to build the largest fibre flock by creating the world's longest scarf. Scarf sections will be made by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of teams using only natural fibres and contributing money for every inch or row of that is woven, knitted, crocheted, or felted.

All scarf sections will be sent to New York in October and ultimately wrapped around a place of "great significance." If interested, go to the web site at http://www.keepthefleece.org/.

Source: Idaho Wool Grower Bulletin, March 2009.

A "beauty pageant" for sheep

Locally-bred sheep were featured in Saudi Arabia's first "beauty pageant" for sheep. In the past few years, beauty pageants involving camels and goats -- which, together with sheep, symbolize Bedouin lifestyle -- have been held across the kingdom.

The pageant offered an opportunity for breeders to do business and a rare outlet for entertainment. The goal of the competition was to encourage Saudis to breed for quality. Some of those who attended the event said Saudi sheep -- known as Nejdi sheep -- have markedly improved over the past decade because of the attention given to breeding them.

Four thousand men (no women) assembled on a stretch of desert just north of Riyadh. The men sat in armchairs around a tiny runway covered with red carpeting, as rams and ewes were put on display following a fireworks show and a competition for the best poem in praise of sheep.

According to the organizer, good ewes sell for 20,000-30,000 Saudi riyals, the equivalent of $5,300-$8,000 while good rams can fetch hundreds of thousands of riyals.

Read article at FOXNews.com

Dairy goats in China

There are more dairy goats in Fuping County than any county in the world: 320,000 compared to only 310,000 in the entire United States. Fuping County is in North Central China.

The average dairy goat farmer in China has fewer than 10 does. The government is encouraging larger dairy goat farms, based on several organizational models. Almost all of the dairy goats are Saanen.

Small farmers keep their goats near the homestead. On large farms, the goats are kept in confinement: brick buildings with concrete or brick floors. The goats are fed in fence line feeders and have an outside loafing area. On the large farms, corn silage or green chop is fed, along with some hay and grain. Small farmers feed mostly the corn plant; grain, if they can afford it.

Most of the goats, regardless of farm size, are milked by hand. The milk is collected into a bucket, strained into another container, then cooled in a vat of cold water. It is transported to the processing plant in containers. Most of the milk is made into powdered milk.

Within five years, most of the goats will probably be machine milked at milking stations, set up in the villages. The authorities believe that machine milking will improve the quality and safety of the milk.

Read full article: "Dairy Goat Production in China"

Record price for wool

An Indian fabric maker paid nearly AU $250,000, a record price, for a 200-pound bale of exceptionally high grade wool at a wool auction in Australia.

Five exporters bid for the bale, which was described as the finest ever sold at an auction in Australia. The fineness of the wool refers to the thickness of the fiber and is one measure of its quality: the finer the wool, the lighter the resulting fabric.

The record-setting bale was bought by Raymond Ltd., the biggest maker of woolen fabrics in India. Raymond paid $247,480 Australian dollars (US$237,417) for the bale, which weighed 92 kilograms. The price equates to 2,690 Australian dollars a kilogram (US$1,173 per lb.), more than 300 times the benchmark price of standard Australian wool.

The bale of wool had a fiber width of 11.6 microns compared with an average width of 21 microns for the benchmark. It is enough to make as many as 50 suits. The wool was produced on a farm in New South Wales in Australia.

Source: ASI Weekly News, June 27, 2008.

The Yule Goat

The Yule Goat is a typical Scandinavian Christmas ornament made of straw which is used as decoration throughout the home.

Before Christianity arrived in Scandinavia, the ancient Scandinavians used to celebrate the winter solstice around the same time that we celebrate Christmas today. One of those traditional winter solstice celebrations was the Yule Goat.

The Yule Goat was a person disguised as a goat who went from house to house entertaining families with songs and dances, and receiving drink and food in exchange for the entertainment.

In Norse mythology, the good-natured, protective god Thor traveled around in a chariot that was drew by two magical goats. It is believed that the ancient tradition of the Yule Goat represented the magical goats who came with Thor as he visited the Scandinavian homes bringing happiness and protection at this very special time of the year.

During the 19th century the tradition of the Yule Goat started to be displaced by our modern Santa Claus. In Scandinavia the goat disguise was substituted by the jolly man in red, yet the Yule Goat was never forgotten.

Julbock, the Yule Goat (Scandinavica.com)

World Wool Outlook

While the recent World Sheep & Wool Congress focused mostly on meat sheep production, one of the more interesting speakers was Australian Ben Watts, who spoke about global wool market dynamics.

Watts described a growing demand for apparel wool under 21.5 microns. The finest wools (less than 18.5 micron) are required to produce next to skin apparel. Europe (e.g. Italy) is still the primary consumer of these types of wool, whereas China is the largest consumer of raw wool in the world.
Watts also described government programs in Japan, designed to conserve energy, that have increased wool consumption. The global consumption of wool is expected to increase, but per capita consumption is expected to fall in the long term.

Foot-and-mouth outbreak in England

A second herd of cattle in southern England has tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease. The cattle were within the 2-mile-radius protection zone from where the first infected cattle were found.

The source of the infection has not been identified. The first outbreak occurred four miles from a laboratory that produces vaccines containing the same rarely seen strain of foot-and-mouth disease. The outbreaks follow widespread flooding.

News of a second outbreak fed fears of a repeat of 2001, when a foot-and-mouth epidemic in the UK led to the slaughter of millions of animals.

Foot-and-mouth disease affects cloven-hoofed animals, including cows, sheep, pigs and goats, but does not typically affect humans. The United States has been free from foot-and-mouth disease since 1929.

Read Associated Press article at MercuryNews.com.