Ontario's goat industry 'a bright spot' says CEO

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

by JIM ALGIE

Growing international demand for goat cheese plus recent immigration to Canada from goat meat-consuming areas of the world explain unprecedented new investment in Ontario production and processing, industry participants say.

Recent moves into goat milk by two major processors of bovine milk confirm the trend. During a recent panel discussion for a farm audience in Elmwood, Ont., executives of both Mississauga-based, Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd. and Montreal-based Saputo Inc. took good natured pot-shots at one another over growing competition for milk supply serving their respective, south-western Ontario goat milk dairies.

Michael Barrett, Gay Lea chief executive officer, described his firm’s purchase last year of Hagersville-based Hewitt’s Dairy Limited as an important investment in the economy of rural Ontario.

“It’s a real opportunity for growth,” Barrett told a group of about 110 farmers during a panel discussion about the goat industry’s future. Friday’s panel was part of a full day of speakers on goat-related topics at the annual Grey Bruce Farmers Week. Because of limits on expansion under Canada’s supply-management system for cow’s milk, prospective young farmers have begun finding their way to goats.

“We’re excited about youth in the goat dairy industry,” Barrett said. “This is the bright spot for export, for rural sustainability, for youth, for growth; it’s definitely a bright spot,” he said.

Don Clodd, Woolwich Dairy Inc. vice-president, underlined the importance of recent processing developments. That includes Saputo’s $80 million acquisition of Orangeville-based Woolwich which also operates dedicated goat milk plants in Quebec and Wisconsin.

“It’s been stressed to me many times that we as Saputo did not buy the business to keep status quo,” Clodd said. “Most of the dairy sector is either contracting or remaining steady. Goat milk is one of those shining lights,” he said.

Both men underlined the need for processors, government and farmers to work collaboratively on a variety of production, animal welfare and producer education issues. Ontario already boasts the largest share of Canadian goat milk production.

“Ontario is quickly becoming the epicentre of all things goat in North America,” Ontario Goat Executive Director Jennifer Haley said in an interview. In 2015, the province’s 240 licensed producers generated about 42 million litres of milk, up 200 per cent since 2005, she said.

As many as 25 new producers have applied for licenses and should begin shipments during 2016, Haley said. Two of the province’s three largest processors have significant U.S. export business. Woolwich and Lindsay-based Mariposa Dairy Ltd. are Canada’s top two goat dairies but also place second and third in the United States, respectively, Haley said.

“Talking to processors, they’re talking 10 per cent, year-over-year increases in the demand,” Haley said. “It’s a great time to be involved in the goat industry,” she said.

Cheese accounts for more than 80 per cent of the current milk supply. But meat from cull dairy animals and specialized goat meat herds has also found a ready market in recent years.

Ontario government small ruminant specialist Jillian Craig cites recent research showing strong immigration/settlement trends particularly in the Greater Toronto Area among people whose cultures favour goat meat. It has produced strong, demand growth for goat meat in specialized butcher shops and chain groceries, Craig said.

She cited strong and recently rising prices as high as $2.20 per pound for 60-lb. kids. In 2011, Canadian goat meat production totalled 900,000 kilograms, slightly below the level of imports, mainly from Australia and New Zealand.

Many long-term producers have ridden price peaks and valleys through to the general up-trend of recent years. Ontario Goat Vice-President Dirk Boogerd began his goat diary in 2009 with 150 does.

Boogerd currently milks 450 head on his Embro-area farm but expects to reach 600 by summer. Henry Vandervlies has expanded from 40 head to 1,100 over the past 20 years. Both former employees of bovine dairy farms, Boogerd and Vandervlies chose goats because of relatively low-cost entry.

“It’s one of the few areas of agriculture where young farmers like myself could start,” Boogerd said in an interview. “All the others are too expensive and there are quotas,” he said. BF