By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

When Vicki Watson and her family celebrate holidays, the dining table at Thanksgiving and Christmas features three meats: the traditional turkey and ham, and a goat roast.

“My nieces and nephews love it!” Watson said of the goat meat. “I don’t make anybody eat it, but it’s always gone.”

Goat roast is her favorite because it’s so easy to cook. No timer is necessary.

“I just throw it in the Crock Pot,” Watson said. “The longer a goat cooks, the more tender it gets.” Goat meat has a sweet, slightly gamey flavor. It is especially in demand from immigrants, many of whom ate goat meat growing up in their native countries.

“There’s a lot of ethnicity in (nearby) Bowling Green, so there’s a lot of demand for goat there, mostly from Middle Eastern and Hispanic people,” Watson said. “A good goat producer will have their kids (young goats) ready to sell around the ethnic holidays. Easter is the biggest one.”

Watson said many Americans, on the other hand, are opposed to even trying goat meat. But nobody can deny its health benefits.

“It’s the most digestible red meat in the world,” Watson said. “It’s higher in protein. It’s lower in calories, and it’s lower in unsaturated fats so your cholesterol doesn’t go up, making it better for your heart health. In Middle Eastern counties and Africa (where eating goat is popular), you don’t read about heart disease like you have here in America.”

Watson Farm Kikos in Logan County near Auburn, Ky., is one of the largest purebred Kiko goat producers in the state. It is home to about 100 Kikos, a meat goat. Originally from New Zealand, Kikos were created in the 1980s by crossbreeding feral goats of Spanish descent with dairy goats. The breed was first imported to the U.S. in the mid-1990s.

“Kiko” means meat in Māori, a Polynesian language. Kikos are considered the best all-around goat because they grow fast, eat almost anything, and quickly convert most of the energy into meat.

“We started out with a handful of brush goats,” Watson said, noting they were of the Boer breed. “They require a lot of attention. I needed a goat that would be a lot more hardy.”

Watson and her husband, David, went to a sale in Bowling Green in 2008 and came home with a couple of Kikos.

“We bought a buck and doe from Oklahoma, and we never looked back,” Vicki said. “I swear by the Kikos. They’re not big and fat and heavy like a Boer goat, but you get just as much meat.”

Every year, the Watsons take some of their goats to an Amish butcher near Fairview, Ky., for their own consumption. The Amish are also among the Watsons’ customers for their doelings.

“We sold 17 in the past week off the farm,” Vicki noted. “Most of the time, we take them to graded sales. There are five in the state, including the one we go to in Bowling Green.”

The farm’s does are currently having their kids in the pasture without hands-on help from Vicki. She stays busy with other farm chores, such as raising a flock of chickens for eggs and training a crossbreed of Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherd dogs to guard livestock.

“I don’t have time for coddling,” Vicki said. “Most of the time I’m not right there (when does give birth). I find the kids in the field and tag ’em.”

The Watsons have one Saanen dairy goat because David is lactose intolerant.

“My husband can drink goat milk,” Vicki said. “A lot of people contact me for frozen milk to feed babies. Goat milk is the closest thing to human breast milk. It’s a lot better than formula.”

The Watsons have had goats for 20 years. They got involved in the goat business as a way to introduce city kids to farm life.

“We had a ministry for teenagers, foster kids, on our farm,” Vicki said. “Most of them were scared to death of our cows. Our big idea was to start with goats and the teens could help.

“It escalated from there. If you’re going to buy a goat, buy 25 because they’re addicting. They’re aggravating sometimes, but they’re easy to take care of by myself on a day-to-day basis.

“When we started with Kikos (15 years ago), that’s when we got bigger” in the business, she added. “Sometimes, I question my sanity about why I do this. My husband keeps saying we’re getting old and need to cut our herd back. But I love my Kikos.”

Watson Farm Kikos is a member of the Southeast (U.S.) Kiko Goat Association as well as the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Producers.

“Joining associations like our state Kentucky Sheep and Goat Producers Association is very important,” Vicki said, “because of the helpful information, training, and learning from other producers.”

Vicki said she is always willing to help new goat farmers who have questions. The farm doesn’t have a website or Facebook page, but you can email her at WatsonKikoGoats@gmail.com.

“An old goat farmer once told me, ‘If you want to raise a good goat, find an old goat farmer. They’ve been through it all,’” Vicki added.