PREFACE:
Some time after the end of his professional career, a retiree is occasionally seized with a near irresistible notion to offer, sought or not, some semblance of "end-of-tour" reporting to former colleagues, industry cohorts, and to (possibly) interested others. Such observations may be replete with
professional commentary on accomplishments (real or imagined), problems
encountered, current situation, (cautious) expectations, etc., Traditionally,
the retiree feels entirely free to express cause-and-effect opinions, render
value judgments, and forecast the probable while all too frequently grounded
only in personal observations, private prejudices, and a serene confidence in
his own sense of worth to the institution and/or industry he has served. Like
Galbraith, I view modesty concerning noteworthy achievements as a greatly
overrated virtue; contrarily, I am quick to say that, when I first left the
University classroom for the real world in 1968, I experienced a precipitous
decline in my powers of divination and the uncritical acceptance of my
pronouncements; similarly, I suspect, with Galbraith
John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born 1909,
Distinguished Professor (Emeritus), Harvard University--its only agricultural
economist ever, noted author of economic and social history, and valued advisor
to political leaders, domestic and international. Among his myriad perceptive
quotes in his observation that:
"Agriculture works well only under a
widely accepted and much celebrated form of exploitation, that by the farmer of
himself, his family and his immediate and loyal hired
hands"--The Culture of Contentment, 1992.
Essentially, this keen observation is based on the long
and documented record that farmers have historically subsidized consumer food
and fiber expenditures while consistently earning returns to their labor,
management, and capital far below those earned by corollary industrial and
commercial sectors. With only rare exceptions across time and place, goat
enterprises have demonstrated well this on-going economic phenomenon.
Thus, though I will not preface my more positive
sounding generalization with qualifier phrases such as, to the best of my
knowledge, in my personal, unsubstantiated opinion, etc., readers are urged to
be ever mindful of their absence; you are also urged to remember that, like the
early French philosopher, Montaigne:
"All I say is by way of discourse....I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be
believed.
In any case, I illustrate my pleasure and my pride in
having been associated with the development of our goat industry since l979 by
joining spiritually with one Samuel Deane, who, writing in the New England
Farmer, 1790, said:
"Agriculture is one of the noblest
employments to assist Nature in her bountiful productions. Instead of being
ashamed of their employment, our laborious farmers should toss about their dung
with an air of majesty". I now choose to so toss....
INTRODUCTION: The
initiation and expansion of various aspects of our goat industry during the past
century was due to personal initiative and private investment by owners seeking
to increase returns/profits to their land and labor. In the time-honored rural
tradition, such owners then freely shared their experiences with those neighbors
similarly inclined toward novel opportunities. As may be imagined, this sharing
mostly took the form of verbal communication with individuals or small local
groups. This early, on-going generation and extension of practical results and
economic applications concerning general agriculture is delightfully and
effectively described by one Arthur Young who wrote in his Rural Economy,
l792:
"All gentlemen who make agriculture
their business or amusement, should register their trials and either publish
them themselves, or communicate them to others who will take that trouble. It is
inconceivable how much the world would be benefited by such a conduct; matters
relative to rural economics would receive a new face; every day would bring
forth some valuable discovery, and every year that passed yield such an increase
of knowledge, as to point and smooth the way to discoveries now unthought of. As
far as a man’s fortune will allow him to go, no amusement in the world equals
the forming and conducting experiments in agriculture; to those, I mean, who
have a taste for rural matters; nor can any business, however important, exceed,
in real utility, this amusement. Experiments that are made with spirit and
accuracy are of incomparable value in every branch of natural philosophy; those
of agriculture, which is the most useful of these branches, must be particularly
valuable".
This incredibly prescient paragraph recognizes the
central role of agriculture in the lives of all people. In the U. S., as
elsewhere, food and fiber production was then the basic occupation of the
majority of the population; it was also the basic preoccupation of all
citizens....starkly put, too few family foodstuffs, too few survivors. However,
as populations increased in size and complexity over time, broad social and,
ultimately, political pressures identified food and fiber production as a
paramount societal concern, one that could not safely be left to localized,
unorganized information exchanges of largely anecdotal information among
farmers. As a result of this recognition of urgent national need, Congress in
1865 established a system of Cooperative Land Grant Colleges (one in each state)
to generate research findings leading to improvements in farm output. (The word,
Cooperative, refers to the required b>joint, but not necessarily equal, funding from Congress and State
Legislatures); Congress established a second such program for Black Colleges in
1890).
CURRENT GOAT RESEARCH NEEDS,
CONSTRAINTS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
In early 2004, the Goat Rancher published an article in
which I described, in broad profile, certain categories within the U.S. goat
industry, as characterized by enterprise scale, scope, and goals, while in a
fall article, 2004, I identified incipient difficulties likely to be encountered
by novice goat owners. In 2002, the Goat Rancher presented my "take" on aspects
of meat goat marketing. I cite these for your possible review, but also to
document my long acquaintance with the industry, one which does have its
problems--some of which seem "researchable", while others seem less amenable to
investigation.
However, it must first be conceded that, as a group, we
owners already have sufficient technical know-how, from whatever formal or
informal sources, to manage the national herd of perhaps 2.5 million
goats--sometimes profitably so. On the other hand, we do seem to have great
difficulty in identifying specific production constraints, in
priortizing among them, and, in
particular, making our collective needs known to
appropriate research entities/funding sources. Just poll a collection of goat
owners informally for their views on goat industry research needs; the number
and range of answers will be astounding. Indeed, I have devised a descriptive
equation, possibly mathematically dubious, to quantify my findings: Pdv
=Dsquared x SIn, (the volume of producer discussion is equal to the square of
the number of discussants times the number of special interests represented). In
the vernacular, we too seldom get our shit together.
Be that as it may, suppose a large number of us, acting
(logically) through a State or Regional Association,
could/would identify a researchable
production constraint to industry growth/profitability....what to do? First, draft
a written "position paper" describing the problem, its particulars and its
extent, and, insofar as possible, quantifying its negative economic impact on a
majority of producers. Secondly, take it to the Dean of Agriculture of your
Land-Grant University or perhaps to his deputy (often called Director of the
Experiment Station) or perhaps to the Chairman of the Animal Science Department.
Alternatively, you could appear before the Administrator of the Extension
Service or, a distinctly lesser personage, to your State Extension Livestock
(goat) Specialist (I was such a fellow), who then could buck your request
upwards through channels. In any case, the objective is to bring informed
attention to your collective needs and, one may hope, get a full and
frank discussion of possible responses.
And now for a dose of reality.... the administrator you
contact, invariably polite and sympathetic to petitioners and possibly even
preliminarily persuaded by well-documented needs, will necessarily follow some
form of Upper Administrative Policy Guidelines, i.e.,, he will have to convince
the Final Decision-Maker and associated bean-counters of the economic relevance
and possibly the political significance of the proposed research project. If so
convinced, your project will go forward; if not, it becomes, with regrets,
still-born.
More reality....there is a further, perhaps insidious
factor at work in University precincts you should be aware of.....most any
research project nowadays is selected in
part on what available funding sources will
authorize, in
part on its prospects for
scientific publication, in
part on the training, reputation and current
availability of the needed investigator,
and in
part (one may hope) on its practical relevance to its target
clientele (that’s you). But, once approved, done, and published, extension
specialists have the opportunity/onus to deliver the findings to
you.
Even more reality....most federal agricultural research dollars are
currently distributed to States as lump sums (not partitioned by crop,
livestock, etc.). They are targeted, according to USDA
fiat, for "basic science", i.e., to fundamental
investigations. Consequently, very few of these funds are currently
allocated for applied/practical research projects (the kind of help most goat
producers most often need). Note, too, that the USDA has its’ own extensive
research capability, the Agriculture Research Service, with many subject matter
areas of interest and at several locations (some have State "partners", some
not). Note, too, that Congress itself may direct, and specifically fund, USDA to
undertake politically-sensitive research (and extension) activities aimed at
solving high visibility, national or regional problems (e.g., animal/plant
disease control, food safety issues, etc.).
Goat organizations should know that USDA also has, from
time to time, certain "ear-marked funds" available for livestock producer groups
seeking direct federal help. The competition for these grants is fierce, and
technical competence can sometimes be usefully abetted by political influence.
Readers should recognize that goat owners constitute a minority group with few
and less vocal supporters (prospective voters); as such, they are critically
under-represented at decision-making levels--sad, but true. But, when a grant
is forthcoming, producer groups commonly
"sub" the execution of the research project to University or other qualified
personnel. (Such funds powered my early investigations, with South Carolina,
North Carolina, and New York personnel concerning goat marketing, and my later
work with Louisiana co-workers concerning development of goat grading
standards).
Currently, there are substantial goat research efforts
at Langston U (OK), Texas A&MU-San Angelo, Fort Valley S U(GA), and Virginia
S U; smaller efforts, due perhaps to less funding and/or Administrative
interest, are found in NC, FL, TN, and LA. Additionally, Veterinary
investigations have been conducted, primarily in TX, NY, MD, CA, WA and OR.
Substantial goat research is also
conducted in France, Israel, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Australia, and, more
recently, in China; some has/will have relevance to our own needs.
In addition
to federal and state monies given to Universities as described above, some State
Departments of Agriculture occasionally distribute modest sums for livestock and
goat activities (but rarely for research projects per
se). The few goat funds made available to date have gone mostly to
marketing studies and to industry development programs in TX, OK, LA, NC, KY,
VA, and NY.
Goat groups occasionally inquire as to how they might
get a commercial company to research/develop a product to meet a particular
industry need (parasite control is the paramount concern identified).
Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies feel they can not afford even the
financial outlay necessary to obtain FDA "goat labeling" for existing health
products, much less justify the expense of new product development, testing, and
approval. Thus, prospects for novel, effective products are not good, not only
because of expense, but also because goat owners simply do not constitute a
sufficient size of market to warrant such products;
again, sad but true. Commercial companies
do formulate goat feeds and
mineral/vitamin supplements by using existing data from various sources, but
they rarely do goat nutrition research per
se. Incidentally, I have never known any feed company to utilize any
sort of public (on-farm) comparative demonstration of their
products. The logistics of such an undertaking are admittedly complex and
daunting; besides, their product might not win.
CURRENT GOAT EXTENSION NEEDS,
CONSTRAINTS, AND OPPORTUNITIES
The need for agricultural extension activities was
recognized early on by one Jared Elliot, who wrote in 1760 in Essays upon
Field-Husbandry In New England:
"Useful
Arts are sometimes lost for want of being put into Writing. Tradition is a very
slippery Tenure, and a slender Pin to bear any great weight for a long
time.....whoever has made any Observation or Discoveries, altho’ it be but a Hint,
and looks like a small Matter, yet if pursued and improved, may be of publick
Service....I am sure I should have been glad of such an History of Facts (as
imperfect as it is). It would have afforded me Light, Courage, and
Instruction".
The need for retaining and extending agricultural
technology was again recognized in 1826 by one Leonard Lathrop in The
Farmer’s Library, who warned us that:
"For want of records, much useful
knowledge is continually lost. Though many individuals have derived advantages
to themselves from experiments, but few have recorded them. Even those who make
experiments are liable to forget them, so as to give incorrect representation of
them when they attempt to relate them".
And so it came to pass, in the sometimes leisurely
manner of political and bureaucratic affairs everywhere, that the USDA in 1902
created the joint Federal/State Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service. Its
charge, initially, was to disseminate research results to crop and livestock
producers, primarily through the Land Grant University System. (In later years,
the AES added programs in home economics, human nutrition, child care, etc.).
Goat owners are locally impacted by the Extension Service via its’ County
Extension Agents, who are necessarily "generalists" in that they field
questions, supply information, and conduct training for a wide variety of
subject matter areas including 4-H youth programs--for which goats have been
particularly well suited.
At the next level are State Extension Specialists, those
with in-depth training/expertise in a certain subject matter area, e.g., animal
science, crop science, economics, sociology, etc., and, within such areas,
specialization in, say, livestock nutrition,
physiology, or genetics. Some
specialists may have particular expertise concerning beef cattle, poultry,
sheep/goats, etc. and may be stationed at the LGU campus or at regional
research/extension Centers in the State. They serve primarily as technical
backstop to County Agents, but also interact directly with farmers and ranchers
and sometimes conduct result-demonstrations on-site with cooperating farmers.
Some also do occasional joint activities with other USDA entities such as Forest
Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Natural Resources Conservation Service.
(I was just such a Specialist for 14 years in TX/OK and, on request, in other
states with interests in developing a goat sector).
Historically, only those states with large populations
of goats (TX) and sheep (Rocky Mt States. OH, VA) had State Specialists for
these species. However, in the recent past, goat populations have increased
dramatically in the southeastern states; consequently, a number of full- and
part-time State Extension Specialists are now available to goat owners there; so
also in NY, MD, and VT. Note that goat numbers first expanded; only thereafter
were extension efforts instituted in response to owner needs. Oklahoma was an
exception in that it established, in 1983, research and extension programs, at
Langston University, with the express purpose of developing a goat industry
where one did not exist.
Goat extension efforts take many forms, among them
Newsletters, Field-Days, on- or off-campus seminars/training sessions or
demonstrations. Early on, there were bulletins, fact sheets, and leaflets, but,
with increasing printing/distribution costs and, particularly, with the advent
of Internet service, these have all but disappeared.
Once an Extension staple activity,
on-site visitations to owners for problem identification/solving have now
declined markedly due to cost considerations; however, telephone/email exchanges
still enable some personalized interactions.
One of the ways Extension Specialists
could offer counsel to goat owners, widely
and economically, is via publication in monthly magazines having substantial
regional/national circulation. Curiously enough, this opportunity seems
under-used to date, for whatever reasons...perhaps the available research findings
have not been yet published in research journals (a bureaucratic no-no)...perhaps
the research findings, though of scientific and, possibly, of long-term merit,
are of too little obvious/practical value to current producers....perhaps the
Extension Agent is too swamped with corollary duties....perhaps he/she feels inadequate as a writer of
"lay-language" articles....perhaps he/she perceives that their Administrator
values publication in more scientific venues as somehow professionally
preferable to producer education via popular periodicals (which are certainly
more often read by goat owners than are the more "learned"
publications).
The "quality" of goat extension efforts is said by
informed and thoughtful goat owners to vary widely, possibly due to
Administrative interest/funding levels or to differences in personnel
qualifications/interest, and possibly, I have seen, to erroneous levels of
expectation and lack of positive response from the producers themselves. In any
case, Extension Agents are not the only source of technical information
available to goat owners. In addition to the few industry magazines, goat
producers have available books on herd health, basic nutrition, and herd
management as well as useful information from suppliers of needed goods. Too,
Breed publications commonly contain some useful information among their more
voluminous promotional materiel, Show results, and occasional puff pieces.
SELF-HELP
FOR GOAT OWNERS
Perhaps one of the better, immediately available sources
for goat production/marketing information is person-to-person conversation.
Indeed, learning this strategy was so noted in 1800 by one Thomas Fessenden in
The Register of Arms, who said:
"What may
seem to some persons as merely commonplace information may, perhaps, prove
valuable to others, whose time may have been devoted to pursuits of a different
nature:
This advice to seek private counsel (e.g., from one goat
owner by another goat owner) can be--and often is a cheap and effective way to
learn. Contrarily, such one-on-one discussion can be, as many unhappily know
from experience, a classic case of the blind- leading-the-blind; in short, know
your source, or be prepared to be occasionally led astray. The difficulty for
greenhorns is that, being poorly informed, they can’t readily distinguish among
the "facts" being offered, all with the best of intentions, of
course.
A geographically close collection of goat owners will,
almost invariably, hit on the notion to form some sort of collective group for
the furtherance of shared goals and objectives, however defined as to
organizational structure and program of work needed to accomplish their aims.
Sometimes, particularly early on in its’ life, a newly formed group will proceed
enthusiastically, harmoniously, and effectively. In other instances, with the
passage of time, there is a tendency--indeed, a near certainty-- for contrary
personalities to emerge, to clash, and to precipitate crises --to the detriment
and, occasionally, to the dissolution of the group. Such unfortunate occurrences
are clearly adverse to group harmony, to effective communication, and, worse of
all, to sustained organizational effectiveness. However, those group members
with a bent toward cooperation, compromise, and consideration of others (too
frequently found within the too-silent majority) can--indeed, must seize the
stage, as it were, and regain the upper hand in order for the group to proceed
effectively. If so, they can readily and appropriately identify with an earlier
advocate of communalism-of-purpose, one James Donaldson who in 1700 wrote in
The Undoubted Art of Thriving:
"That every Man should imploy
himself not only for the advancing of his own Interest, but likewise that he may
propagate the Welfare of others, will, I suppose, be sooner granted than
practiced.... it is necessary, that some be imployed one way, and some another, so
that each may attain to some Competent Degree of Knowledge of, and Dexterity in
the Vocation or Imployment he Professes, so that every one may be Useful and
Assisting to another, and by mutual Good Correspondence with one another, all
may live Comfortable together".
Localized or multi-county goat organizations that
arrange technical assistance sessions, conduct Shows and assorted Sales, do
Youth activities, etc. to successful and encouraging effect, may then decide to
look further afield. They may
perceive the need for, and possibilities of, creating (or joining other groups
to form) a State Association, or even a Regional or National Association of
like-minded (concerned/intelligent/forward-thinking) goat owners. Their primary
goal would likely be actionable interests in industry
betterment, however defined, or perhaps in pursuing State or National Government
grants, or Federal legislation to fend off potentially intrusive regulations, or
to obtain favorable regulatory assistance in marketing, or possibly for legal
intervention to protect themselves from international competition.
These interests (wishes) are, by definition, noble,
possibly achievable, but.... they are also invariably difficult, costly, and
potentially enervating for members. Particularly so for those individuals
(usually elected leaders) within the enlarged organization who physically carry
the onus, i.e., who do the organizational fine-tuning of
the Association and thereafter guide its operational logistics, and (only
then) obtain consensus on the proposed course of
action, and finally, make the time-consuming and expensive
trips to Washington for jaw-to-jaw meetings with Congressional
mover-and-shakers...well, for them, the glory, always fleeting, may not
adequately compensate. They may need, and certainly deserve, sustained emotional
as well as financial support. I do concede that Association members are
permitted, even obligated to provide (constructive) criticism, but they should
also be sparing in their (sometimes) uninformed criticism of the chosen
leaders--at least until they themselves have walked-the-walk (Thereafter, such
critics would likely be a noticeably subdued and certainly more understanding--of
issues and personal sacrifice).
A concluding word on
goat Cooperatives, whether for buying goods or for selling animals or products,
or for seeking political influence for various purposes. In over 50 years in the
livestock industry, I have encountered few such successful enterprises, no
matter how valid their chosen cause. Failures, early and late, have been the
norm, for whatever particular reasons. A major reason for failure, I have come to
believe, is that, to be successful and sustainable, Cooperative members would
have to practice a nearly untenable togetherness over time. Such close personal
interaction may simply require more virtue than mere mortals can
stomach.....occasionally, after a Bud-Lite or two, I phrase it as: like Socialism,
a Cooperative is way too Christian a notion to ever catch on widely.
I close
these free-ranging, incomplete observations with yet another delightful quote,
all the while conceding that I have in no way "fully satisfied your
desire to know"--but, even a modest effort can be a useful one, so....
"Thus gentle Reader I have (I trust)
fully satisfied thy desire In as many things as are needful to be knowne:
wherefore I commit my little Booke to thy gentle judgement. If thou maist
receive any profit or commodities thereby, I shalbe glad to it; and if not,
favorably let it pass from thee to others, whose knowledge and experience is
lesse than thine therein, that they may gather such things as to them are
strange, though to thee well knowne before."--Thomas Hill,
The Arts of Gardening, 1608.
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