ENNIS — The goat market in Montana and across the nation is seeing high demand and strong prices, driven by holiday consumption and a reliance on imports.
In Ennis, goat producer Shylea Wingard is seeing the results of a successful kidding season following a mild winter. Wingard started raising goats when her son participated in high school rodeo, and now has over 100 goats.
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"You know I got started when my son was doing high school rodeo, and we got a couple of goats to practice with... and here we are today with lots of goats," Wingard said.
The supply and demand for goats is looking up for producers, Wingard said.
"We are looking at some four highest goat prices that we've had in years. Meat market goats pays the last couple of months have been bringing in over $4 a pound," Wingard said.
A typical goat weighs roughly 60 pounds, which would bring the sale to roughly $250.
While the mild winter was beneficial for livestock producers, Wingard expressed concern about potential water and hay shortages this summer.
"The weather couldn't have been better for all the livestock producers in the state. While we appreciate this great livestock weather for the winter... I call it the winter of no winner. I hope we don't pay for it this summer with a lack of water, I'm already hearing hay guys are worried for the hay supplies," Wingard said.
To understand the surge in goat prices, MTN went to the MSU Wool Lab to speak with sheep and wool specialist Brent Roeder.
"Even though my title says sheep and wool, I get almost as many goat calls as I do sheep calls," Roeder said.
Roeder noted that certain holidays typically include goat and lamb in their festivities.
"The demand is really good for goats right now, we have Ramadan, we have Easter, all of those types of markets that are traditionally consumed and are looking for lamb and goats at that time of the year," Roeder said.
Roeder also noted the sheer number of goats and lambs imported into the country to meet demand. The United States imports 75% of the lamb and 70% of the goat consumed domestically.
"Really, it's not so much the tariffs, but the constant changing of the tariffs, it's been the constant changing of the tariffs that have made the import, export thing really difficult. Whether that was the reason or not, we saw lamb prices almost double from last year," Roeder said.
Goat prices did not double, but settled at around $4 a pound.
"The market is definitely there; it's just getting producers and new producers in the industry. And getting producers to them on scale... Run the numbers," Roeder said.
This article has been lightly edited with the assistance of AI for clarity, syntax, and grammar.
