There is tremendous potential to sell goat meat on the Internet. This system requires meat that is slaughtered according to the USDA guidelines (in federally-inspected slaughterhouses). Carcasses that are not processed in a federally-inspected slaughterhouse cannot cross state lines or be marketed in other states.

California has several processing plants, but in many states like Alabama, these facilities are not readily available or the cost to process the product in these facilities is prohibitive. Carcasses slaughtered at federally inspected processing facilities can be shipped to other states. State-inspected carcasses cannot be transported from state to state for marketing.

The unit providing meat through the Internet market should be operated under USDA HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) principles and must have liability insurance. My advice would be to contact those who have tried using the Internet to sell beef or other meat products. Several livestock producers in California and in some other states are currently using the system to sell meat.

The Internet is proving to be a profitable system and with some creativity, it can produce significant revenue (for more information, see The Farmer’s Guide to the Internet).

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