Agricultural Sciences

      Penn State Extension Offers Meat Goat Home Study Course

      UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Though it hasn't turned up on many restaurant menus, goat meat is one of the most widely consumed meats in the world. With a taste somewhere between beef and venison -- and even less fat than chicken -- goat meat is a healthy, tasty alternative for dinner and a growing option for livestock producers.

      Penn State Cooperative Extension in Bedford County is offering a distance education course, "Meat Goat Home Study," to provide a better understanding of the basics of meat goat production. The course will be valuable for beginners, as well as for seasoned full-time and part-time producers.

      Anyone interested in raising meat goats may participate in the course, and the lessons can be completed either over the Internet and e-mail or as a print-based correspondence course. The six lessons of the course cover basic production information, reproduction, nutrition, health, marketing and financial information for meat goat production. The course is designed to help individual producers by tailoring worksheets to specific operations.

      Participants in the course read one lesson per week and then complete and return worksheets to Greg Strait at Penn State Extension's Fulton County office. Strait will answer questions and provide personal comments and suggestions for how to improve each participant's operation.

      "The course is a great way for producers to learn new information without having to rearrange their schedules to accommodate a meeting," says Melanie Barkley, Bedford County extension educator. "Producers can study the lessons at their leisure in their own home."

      The cost of the course is $35 if completed through the Internet/e-mail option and $50.00 if completed through print-based correspondence. The lessons are available anytime on the Web at http://bedford.extension.psu.edu/agriculture/goat/goat%20lessons.htm. The registration deadline for the next course is Jan. 25, 2006, and sessions will not begin until Feb. 1, 2006. The registration form is also available online and must be submitted by mail to the Penn State Cooperative Extension Office in Bedford County.

      Anyone interested in course information can visit the Web site or contact Melanie Barkley by phone at 814-623-4800 or by e-mail at meh7@psu.edu.

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      Writer: Whitney Glaser

      Editor: Gary AbdullahOffice 814-863-2708

      Last Updated March 19, 2009

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