Could 2014 be the Year of the Goat?

Organising nearly 200 farmers’ markets a year, we see new trends emerging, whether it be an expansion of the range of pork based charcuterie our farmers are developing, or an increase in the availability of award winning goats cheeses on our markets and a demand for highly digestible goat’s milk.

These developments are exciting to witness and our West Country producers are at the cutting edge of British cuisine and regularly celebrated in the media by our top UK chefs.

However, there has been an unfortunate spin off in the expansion of the dairy goat industry and this has been the wastage of an estimated 30,000 unwanted billy goat kids in the UK.   A similar situation occurred with dairy calves until a large amount of work was done to encourage a renewed interest in humanely reared veal much of this spearheaded by Ruth Kimber whose rose veal is now a popular offering at the Frome Farmers’ Market each month.

Worldwide, goat is one of the most commonly eaten meats and our longest domesticated animal.  Yet in the UK it has until recently been merely been associated with Caribbean goat curry.  This is a great shame as kid goat meat has a rich meaty flavour, is lower in cholesterol than beef, pork or lamb and is high in protein and iron.

Local dairy goat farmer Sarah Davies of Wookey Farm who sells at Burnham Farmers’ Market has been introducing goat meat into their range alongside their very popular brie type goat’s cheese and milk.  Sarah began by introducing goat sausages and tagines as tasters and found that customers, many of whom had not tasted goat meat before, were very pleasantly surprised at the taste and she is now selling an increasing amount of the meat.

Meanwhile Stewart Hyslop of Gruffs Goats in Crewkerne spotted an opportunity to take on the unwanted billy kids from the local dairy industry to rear as free range animals. He will be  introducing his meat, which he rears for five to six months, to Axbridge & Wells Farmers Markets. Visit www.somersetfarmersmarkets.co.uk for more information or phone 01373 814646.

Dyne Drewett Solicitors Ltd are proud sponsors of Somerset Farmers Markets, with more than 200 years of history, Dyne Drewett Solicitors has a reputation of building long-term relationships with clients, allowing it to provide relevant and tailored advice, best suited to their needs.