Dairy Goats and Milk

goat: It something Larry and Clara Hedrich didn't expect when they started raising dairy goats in the 1970s as a hobby, according to Metro News. They now milk 800 dairy goats, make award-winning cheese from cow, sheep and goat milk and boast enough capacity to process triple what they currently do."We're competing in our farm here in Pipe, Wisconsin, with the world," Larry Hedrich said. It earning another milk laurel in the face of increasing demand for goat cheese and milk: the most dairy goats in the U.S. That distinction will only stand to increase when two of the largest goat dairies in the world soon begin operating in northeast Wisconsin. The growth in Wisconsin — as well as California, which is No. 2 in goat- and sheep-milk sales — is due to both existing infrastructure and growing appreciation for goat milk in the U.S. Chefs are using it more frequently, consumers are seeking out its unique taste and growing immigrant populations from places like East Africa and Latin America are looking for the familiar products, according to Norm Monsen, dairy economic development consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Goat milk in the U.S. is used mostly for cheese, retail sales of which reached $142 million this year, up 8 per cent from $131 million in 2015, according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. But there a lack of research and goat-specific products, like medicine or feed, which can be problematic for farmers who are turning to the emerging market. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.