The Rural Voice, 1989-09, Page 37Canadian National Goat show, and has
gone Grand Champion each time. In
the barn recently, she had 17 Perman-
ent Champions, goats who have won
the right to be called champions for
their lifetime, and in the last U.S. Elite
List of 25 elite bucks in North Amer-
ica, four of her bucks are named.
"My brother and I have done very
well with our herd in Canada and the
U.S.," says Barker.
Despite the time that she needs to
put into her breeding program and the
judging that she does all over North
America (she judged more than 3,000
goats last year in 23 U.S. states and
Canada), she still describes herself as
a part-time hobby farmer. This is
because she has a full-time job as a
Dairy Herd Inspector.
The goat industry is dominated by
hobby farmers, and this is considered
the main reason why the industry as a
whole still lacks a certain profession-
alism. "There is incredible burn -out
in the goat industry," Barker says.
"People get in too big too fast. I get
calls from people asking: `Where can
I buy 100 goats.' It is unbelievable.
This would never happen in the dairy
industry! Goats breed so fast that if
they just wait for three years they will
have 100 goats anyway. The people
should learn as they grow, but they get
into it without any investigation of
what is involved, and then can't keep
up with the work load."
An 1984 report on the goat indus-
try projected that if the goat industry
improves and is properly managed, it
could bring in $100 million a year in
Ontario alone. The Canadian Goat
Society is working actively to make
the goat industry professional. There
are 1,200 members across Canada,
with more than half of the members in
Ontario, Alberta coming second.
The Goat Society promotes, and is
working towards stabilizing, commer-
cial milk production. Goat milk can
be sold for anything from 20 cents a
litre to as much as 77 cents. There is
also a desire to have goat cheese
produced by local processors to fill the
market niche now occupied by imports
from Italy and France. The society
promotes the export of breeding stock
to the Third World as well, and there
is now traffic to Cuba, Brazil, and
Venezuela.
PENNY PINCHING
GROUND BREAKER.
%4/42/'W%
f //%/i'
//// 7745
ZET�Q
The perfect combination of performance and economy.
Low purchase price. Special terms. Low fuel
consumption. And all the power and features you need
to make this year a ground -breaker. See it today.
6% financing available
See one of these participating dealers:
McGAVIN FARM EQUIPMENT, Walton 519-887-6365 ...519-527-0245
SWANSTON FARM EQUIPMENT, Rockwood 519-856-9512
SOUTHVIEW SALES & SERVICE, St. Marys 519-349-2531
DON HENNESSY LTD., Duntroon 705-445-1076
SCONE SERVICE CENTRE, Chesley 519-363-2431
C&G FARM SUPPLY, Zurich 519-236-4934
CHRIS ZEHR & SONS LTD., Tavistock 519-655-2253
NEW HAMBURG FARM SERVICE, New Hamburg 519-662-3491
SEPTEMBER 1989 35