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Minnesota farm family adds value with goats

Goats have added value to a farm in southeast Minnesota.

Jordan and Rochelle Meyer have 150 dairy cows, raise grass-fed beef and pasture pork and poultry near Caledonia. 

Jordan says a few years ago they brought goats into the mix to clear a wooded area that had been logged.

“Once they took the tree canopy out, the brush just started erupting, which was expected. But since that happened, we figured we’d capitalize on that opportunity and utilize those acres with goats and generate some more revenue that way.”

They now graze 400 goats that they sell for meat and genetics and also lease out to other grazers.

He tells Brownfield they’ve found the goats and cattle complement each other.

“The goats will bring a lot of extra added biology and fertility to the open fields. And like in a year like this year, we’ve been using the cows on a lot of the wooded acres because it’s so dry and droughty this year. It’s nice to be able to allow the cows to have a little bit more forage.”

Meyer says being in the Driftless Region, goats make a lot of sense because of all the hills, bluffs, and woods.