Small Ruminant Genetic Breeding a Profitable Venture – Agriculture Minister

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says that small ruminant genetic breeding can be a profitable enterprise for Jamaicans.

Speaking on Friday (January 26) at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) Founders’ Weekend in Portland, the Minister outlined that “a part of the small ruminant industry is that you don’t have to do anything with meat.

You can just be in small ruminants to breed genetics and sell kids to other farmers”.

Sharing an experience he had recently, the Minister recalled that he visited a farmer who does genetic work and focuses mostly on Boer and Nubian breeds.

The farmer sells a six-month goat kid for about $350,000.

“If it stays over six months, $400,000… . If it reaches eight months, $500,000. When I went there and toured the farm, I counted 17 kids. All of them were already bought. When I went into the farm, I counted seven goats who were pregnant and he told me that almost all of them are two droppers. So, that’s another 14 and he said to me all of those were already bought before they were born,” Mr. Green said.

“You can do the maths and work out how much money he’s making from what I saw when I was there on the farm. Our small ruminant sector is big business,” he added.

In the meantime, the Minister also made clear that the 1,000 goats that were imported since April last year are not to go into meat trading.

“That is not it. What we’re trying to do is to ensure we have better genetic goat stocks, so we’re importing goats for breeding purposes,” he said.