Here are some reasons for our beliefs:

• The demand for the product now and in the future
• The different categories of the industry
• The reasons some breeders are dispersing their herds.

The first thing you have to do is understand that "Boer Goats" is not the industry. Meat Goat is the industry. Boer Goats are just the premium "type" of  meat goat in the world.  At this time, thousands of tons of goat meat is IMPORTED into the US from other countries such as Australia and Australia is trying to DOUBLE their capability for EXPORTING goat meat in order to meet the demand. (See US Can't Meet Demand , Industry Growth Opportunity & A Bright Future).

When we entered into the industry in 1997, meat goats were selling for $.60 - $.70 a pound. At this time, meat goats are selling for $1.25 - $1.45 a pound. Shortly after we entered the industry, "The Goat Rancher" magazine had a cover story of someone buying an animal for $10,000 and we could not believe it was true. In 2005, we saw our friends, Ronnie & Earl Peacock, sell their buck, War Paint, for $26,000. In 1997, War Paint, would have been considered a "cull" because of his color but in 2005 he sold for more that the Ennobled, traditional bucks were selling for. Other boers this year have sold for more than $10,000 and don't even make the news.  When we got into the industry, percentage does were selling for $75 - $150 each.  Recently we have seen percentage does sell for $4,000, $2,000, $1,500.

It is unheard of for prices of "exotic animals" to stay in the price range that boer goats have done over a period of 10 years. Any animal can be sold for high prices when they are only a few available. Boer goats are certainly not considered "exotic" anymore but the prices continue to stay high because of the "real value" that they have in a "high demand" environment. The US can not grow enough in 20 years to meet the demand if the demand stayed the same however the demand is growing faster than the herds are.

One of the "perceived" problems in this industry is related to the "pyramid scheme" view of the opportunity. I am sure that everyone has met someone that wanted to get them into the Amway business of selling "home products" and getting other people to sell for you. There is no problem with a business that offers products to neighbors or business opportunities to do the same. The problem gets to be when everyone wants to get other distributors but doesn't want to actually sell the products their self. They will say "The real money is getting other distributors".  Many breeders in the industry are just wanting to breed and raise breeding animals to sell to other breeders. There is NO Industry if meat goats are not being sold for slaughter. That is what makes the boer goat so valuable. The highly productive, quick growth capability.

When 90% of the boer association members are trying to raise breeding animals for other breeders to buy, there is a problem. As more and more animals become available in the US, the harder it is to justify a premium price.  However, there are several different categories in the industry for raising animals and having better opportunities for being successful. (see  Categories ). You need to seriously evaluate the different categories of the industry and which one(s) give you the best opportunity for success according to your location and capabilities.

One of the best long-term growth categories in the industry is "show wethers". These are the animals that 4H/FFA kids show. The demand is growing rapidly and the interest for showing goats is spreading across the country. There has to be a new supply every year since wethers can only be shown for a very short amount of time and people generally want more than one show wether. There are now show circuits for the kids and weekly jackpots are popping up everywhere. If you are saying, goats are not shown in your area, do you want to wait until someone else makes it popular and then you miss out on the front end of another opportunity. If you want things to happen, get out and help make it become a reality.

There are more and more sanctioned shows across the country now for you to participate in. There are more judges for you to select from. You have to have your animals seen to get buyers interested in them. You have to see how your animals compare to other quality animals in order to determine if you are on track in your breeding program or not. You have to know other people in the industry to be able to be successful. Shows are a great place to get to know other breeders and see what the competition looks like.

Here are some of the reasons you are seeing some highly visible breeders dispersing their herds.

Competition
When you see several eating places go out of business, do you jump to the conclusion that people are no longer eating out and have started cooking all of their meals at home?  Not hardly!! However, there is a lot of competition in that industry and owners have to be able to compete with other owners in what they offer and the type of food and service they provide. It is exactly the same in the meat goat business. When boers first came into the US, basically any breeder with boers was successful in breeding and selling them. However, 10 years of dramatic growth can create much more competition. Some early breeders of the boers in the US did not do much to continue to improve on their animals. Even though they were highly visible in the industry for having the earliest boers, they could no longer compete with later breeders that had a better vision for improvements needed.

Front-end Breeders
There were lots of breeders that got into the boer business when the animals were exotic and high prices were being paid for anything with a red head. They were only interested in selling breeding stock to other people wanting to sell breeding stock. They bought some quality animals and then flush them as much as possible and then get out. As the boers became less exotic and premium prices were only being paid to the better animals, these breeders got out trying to catch the top of the market and get the premium prices.

Health Issues
There are several highly visible breeders that have decided to get out of the business because of health issues. The Double Eagle Boer Goats owner decided to sell their colored boers because of some health issues in the family. Don Smith indicated that he decided to get out because of health issues.  Stan Benz 's herd was dispersed after he died.

Artificial Dispersal
There have also been some artificial dispersal sales where breeders just want to get premium prices for their herd by saying they are going out of business and then three months later they are back showing and selling again.

Don't worry about the highly visible breeders that are dispersing their herds but do understand why they really got out and how many more breeders are in the industry and how many more are looking at getting into the industry.

Good Luck