Goat breeders have one more year to come up with their part of the money to start a goat research herd at the University of Alberta’s research farm at Kinsella.
“We’ve been given one more year to get the Kinsella project off the ground and if not then it’s shelved,” said Jackie Riley, president of the Alberta Goat Breeders Association in Kingman.
The program would use the existing beef facilities at the research farm in central Alberta with a few modifications.
There has been little Canadian research done on goats. Using the farm would be a way to get good unbiased research, said Laki Goonewardene, an Alberta Agriculture researcher and liaison between the industry and government.
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“In the industry you get a lot of testimonials being thrown around.”
There is no scientific research on simple things cattle and sheep breeders take for granted.
“We don’t know what to feed them in winter,” he said.
Last winter, Goonewardene studied how goats fared in the winter without heated shelter. During December, the tropical animals suffered in the bitterly cold weather and did not grow.
“It goes to show the Alberta winters are too harsh for these animals,” he said.
It’s that kind of information a goat herd at the research farm would reveal.
“I originally thought it was a hell of an idea – I still do,” he said.
But after the past few years of trying to raise the $6,000 needed to get the project started, Riley isn’t optimistic the project will fly. The industry needs to raise about $6,000 for a matching government grant and supply the herd of goats.
They’ve raised about $2,500 and have a few pledges of goats for the project.
“It’s hard to get corporations and feedmills to donate to such a project because goats make up such a small part of their business,” said Riley.
The money may not seem like much to some commodity groups, but it’s a lot of money in goat circles, he said.
“It’s not a booming business. The cash just doesn’t roll in.”
If the money can’t be raised, the goat breeders may concentrate on private research, which may create an interest for more research by the industry and revive the Kinsella project.
There are about 200 members in the Alberta Goat Breeders Association.
