A Small Farm, A Premium Product, A Large Market

Abstract

<p>For Bonnie (Cowell) Hoffmann, the choice to raise goats was a good fit - in more ways than one. When Hoffmann ('90 dairy science and public service and administration in agriculture) found herself looking for a way to support her children as a single mother of four in 2004, she discovered her situation was well suited for goat production. "We selected meat goats because they require smaller tracts of land and my children and I could physically handle them," she says. "The initial investment for meat goats is not as large. We started with 25 acres. It was a way we could be in the livestock industry on a small farm."</p>