‘Native’ Goats Are Small But Meat Is The Best!

I am now starting a genetic improvement experiment on the Philippine Native Goats to produce bigger goats while maintaining the same quality of meat which Filipinos prefer over the large imported goats.
In all of the years that I had been involved in the breeding of Goats, both Dairy and Meat Breeds, I have established that the Philippine Native Goats have the best meat.
Native Goats grow to only about 30 kilos at best, compared to the Boers which could weigh as heavy as 80 kilos, but for Filipino Chevon lovers, Native Goat meat is the best for “Kilawen,” “Sinigang” and “Papaitan.”
(Of course, the word “Native” to describe Philippine Goats is a misnomer because our present day goats are believed to have been brought into the country by the Spaniards and down south by Islamic missionaries from East Asia in the 14th and 15th Century.)
The meat of the Native Goats is tender and it does not have the strong goaty smell, locally called “Anghit,” or “Anggo,” which turns off some goat eaters.
Also, Filipino goat meat lovers are not fond of large goats like Boer because the meat has a coarse texture and a bit tough.
This is the reason why, in the Goat Upgrading Program which I am undertaking now, I have chosen two breeds to be infused to the Philippine Native Goats to improve the size while maintaining the unique meat taste.
I have chosen the Spanish Goats, which I believe is a distant relative of our Philippine Native Goats, and the Spanish Lamancha.
Both breeds are larger than our native goats and their meat does not have the strong odor or goaty smell of the other goat breeds like the Boer or the Anglo Nubian.
My target over the next five years is to improve the size of the Native Goats to at least 50 kilos in body weight to make goat raising profitable for the Filipino farming families.
#farmingisendlesslearning!