Even the American consumer may demand healthier meat choices and goat meat may be the perfect solution and alternative. Goats are higher producers of milk than cows based on their unit of body weight. They also produce more meat based on their higher kidding rate, growth rate, and early maturity when compared to other large ruminants. They have the least allergenic, most digestible, nutritious milk.Their meat is healthier than beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb and veal, because goat meat has lower fat, a higher proportion of good fats (conjugated linoleic acid, CLA), and lower cholesterol. The rapid growth of the U.S. ethnic population is also fueling the demand for goat meat. Estimates indicate the U.S. will need more than 3 million goats for meat production to meet the demand of this ethnic population in 2006 to 2010. This demand does not cover the general population. The lack of industry infrastructure in the U.S. has placed tremendous pressure on imports mainly from Australia, the world’s leading exporter of goats. Australia has been experiencing enormous growth in exports of its goat meat and this has pressured Australian exporters to market their bush or feral goats to fulfill their existing contracts. In Australia, feral goats have been the main supply source for the major goat meat export markets since 1952.

The goat industry can be summarized as follows in order of importance:
• The development of goat processing facilities.
• Goats being seen as a resource.
• The rise in prices paid by these facilities for harvested goats.
• The increasing wealth of exporting customers.
• Uniformity of the product.

Goats that are indigenous to the U.S. may be the potential key to success in the meat goat industry. These homegrown goats tend to require less system input; therefore, they may be more profitable than improved imported breeds. Looking beyond local and national markets, the international market is also growing. The major markets for goat meat include Taiwan, the Caribbean, and South Asia. There is enormous potential to increase world market share and develop new domestic food service markets if supply consistency and quality can be achieved.