I have been asked to explain how can a single farm set up their own set of standards.Our farm is in a remote part of Region 7 and goat farming is not known or practiced,unable to group 10 farms together to join the Goat Ferderation in the Philippines.The AMGA which is American allows for single farm assoc membership.Our farm joined the AMGA for this reason only,unable to find 10 interested people to join the Philippine Goat Federation,nothing personal to the Philippine Goat Federation.If the Philippine Federation allowed single memberships,would have joined.The AMGA gave me information from the USDA about meat standards plus what I learned from Australia and Canada and formed my own standards because when we sell pb. boers for meat from the Visayas we receive P65-70 per kilo per head based on 35-40 kilo weight range for an animal up to 1 year old,on average we receive P2,800 for every head shipped up to Negros Occ. and then on to Manila.From a business point of view would be better for us to try and market our own product locally in the markets,even at P100 per kilo retail we will make more money than selling liveweight.Based on what we understand now about meat standards for goats we formed our own grade standards for the retail market due to the fact we are on our own.What standards the country wishes to adapt is their business,not mine.After talking with goat traders and meat processors we came to understand to set up a national standard will not be easy,alot of people involved in the business and from different islands.
What is the standards we are setting up for our area:
The meat breed of choice is the boer,we are looking at the boer X up to 1 year old,between 30-40kilos liveweight:dairy breeds have long,lean muscles in appearances,usually not considered a prime grade animal.
grade-1-prime,under a year old,goat should have a pronounced bulging to the outside hindleg,a full rounded backstrip and a moderately thick outside shoulder,backbone should feel smooth and rounded with slight pressure applied.
grade-2-choice,goats have moderate meat confirmation,backbone easy to feel but still smooth and rounded.
grade-3-good,goats will have inferior confirmation,backbone will feel more pointed.
grade-4-utility,cull,old,unsoundness or appear unthrifty.
Management and health are major influences on selection of grades.
Would be unfair for me to speak for the goat industry as a whole,can only speak about our area remote in the mountains,goats in general have low values and goat milk is not used by the population but we are trying to breed a better quality dairy goat for the tropical climate in general.As to my statement about the big brothers only helping themselves,in this forum I have not seen any of the big brothers offering much help to the average producer other than to post information concerning their own interests.If I am wrong please point out to me where is all this so called information.
I have never said,others should follow my advise,people are free to do their own thing.What the rest of the country does is not of any concern to us.We have our own problems in our own area to work on.
I hope this clears up any misunderstandings.
