...snicker, snicker...

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/154/region/Raising_goats_a_way_out_of_fin:.shtml

Raising goats a way out of financial misery, and a way into tranquility

By Associated Press, 6/3/2001 10:30

BLANDFORD, Mass. (AP) There's no shortage of places to turn for advice on raising livestock in the Berkshires, but lately Dave Bernier been turning to the Koran.

For the influx of immigrants from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and various Muslim countries, goats are a prized meat central to their cuisine.

For Bernier, who left dairy farming five years ago, it's a way out of financial misery.

He raises goats in strict accordance with Muslim religious law a far cry from the rigors of dairy farming, with its predawn-to-dusk hours, Bernier said.

''You know what time dairy farmers get up? 4:30,'' Bernier told The Boston Globe. ''I get up at 6:30. Then I drink a couple of cups of coffee, I watch 'Imus.' Sometimes I don't even get out until 9:30 or 10.''

So far, Bernier remains the exception in a New England landscape dominated by black-and-white bovines.

While most of the demand for goat meat is in the Northeast, the majority of goats raised for meat are raised elsewhere: two-thirds of goat meat raised in the U.S. comes from Texas, and there's such a scarcity nationwide that 30 percent of goat meat in this country comes from Australia and New Zealand.

But that could change. About 5,000 goat-eating immigrants move into the country every week, according to Cornell University data. Paul Leman Jr., who has the only U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved slaughterhouse in New Hampshire, does 30 percent of his slaughtering for Muslim customers.

The market for goat meat is so strong that he sells all the goat meat he gets, and last year he had to have a shipment sent up from Tennessee.

There's a strict range of practices that goat farmers must adopt if they are to raise the animals in accordance with the Muslim livestock-raising practices known as halal, or ''permissible''

The animals must be treated kindly, without stress and facing Mecca, and the person killing the animal recites a prayers to Allah before cutting the animal's jugular and windpipe with a sharp knife.

Lemay invites Muslim customers to perform the slaughtering rituals themselves, but it must be on days when he is not slaughtering pork, a meat strictly forbidden under Islam.

But sometimes, he must draw the line when the rituals conflict with USDA guidelines.

''I can't accommodate every nationality under the sun,'' he said. ''They like to lay the animal on the ground, like in the story of Isaac and Abraham... I've had to explain, this is not the days of Abraham.''

Bernier has carefully studied his customers' needs and desires. He donates a portion of his meat to charity, as encouraged by Muslim law, and occasionally accompanies animals to slaughter to make sure they're not mistreated.

Bernier realizes that he's in the minority, but believes that other farmers are ignoring the region's changing demographics. In the meantime, he's happy with his role as goatherder.

''At the end of the day, it's nice to be able to go out and sit with your goats,'' he said. ''It's so consoling.''

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001

Answers

Anyone considering starting up with goats should first read "Goat Husbandry" by David MacKenzie. Published by Faber & Faber, now in its 5th edition. (ISBN 0 571 165 958)

Informed, comprehensive, and a pleasure to read.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001

Don't get me started about goats...

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001

hehe...

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2001

It's pretty well established that over the centuries free-range goats deforested vast areas of the the Middle East. Any seedling that showed was fodder for some goat.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2001

Tom, so good to see you posting here again!

Yup, the historical accounts of the ME (and northern Africa, for that matter) are quite different from today. One of my most recent favorite books, Guns Germ & Steel, concludes that the destruction of the agricultural bread basket of the fertile crescent area is a major reason why it dropped from pre-eminence. I believe that draining and damming the rivers contributed to the desertification as well.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2001