Dr. Fred Homeyer speaks at CMGA AGM

By Bob Reid
Ontario Farmer

STRATFORD – An internationally accredited livestock judge who has traveled around the globe seven times included a stop in Stratford recently to share his knowledge on South African Boer goats.

Fred Homeyer spoke to the annual meeting of the Canadian Meat Goat Association on the development of the popular meat breed and what he likes in good breeding stock. He was just as vocal in what he doesn’t like in the breed’s development in the United States and his home state of Texas.

Retired after 34 years as a university professor, Homeyer, 66, was first introduced to Boer goats in 1993 when the breed was first being introduced to the country. The demand at that time for breeding stock was high.

Homeyer saw four bucks sell for $277,000 and six does for $77,000. Embryos imported from New Zealand were selling for $25,000.

“I thought to myself, ‘How can a poor boy from Robert Lee, Texas get in on this business,’” recalled Homeyer.

He woke up from a nap one day and the idea came to him. He would make an offer to the company importing the goats to sell them on commission. But instead of being paid in cash, he took his commission in the form of breeding stock and/or embryos.

As a result the herd of 1,600 currently on his Texas ranch have some of the best genetics in the U.S.

“It’s a rags to riches story just using common sense,” said Homeyer.

He went on to sell goats for other companies and countries but holds the greatest admiration for what breeders in South Africa accomplished originally in 1959 by creating the breed to produce red meat from marginal grazing land.

What the South Africans had done was a work of genius, setting forth on a single sheet of paper all the physical characteristics needed by the goat, said Homeyer. These included adaptable to a range of climate conditions, easy to breed, very gentle, good mothering ability, medium bone with a meaty carcass.

The distinctive coloring of white bodies with red heads made them easy to spot in the brush as well.

The Roman noses were developed with larger sinus cavities to help dissipate heat as was the thick skin and short hair covering.

Although he is a great admirer of animal scientists - such as South African Dr. Jan Bonsma – Homeyer is a great believer in the natural selection process or survival of the fittest. The goats on his farm basically give birth on their own with those too weak to survive left to die.

Many pampered goats he sees on the show circuit have lost that survivability characteristic that was so central in first developing the breed, said Homeyer.

He recalled a woman calling him for advice on how to save a sick goat. After she described about half a dozen things she had done to prevent the goat from getting sick in the first place, Homeyer told her if the goat had already survived all she had done to it, it was likely strong enough to get better on its own.

Homeyer said he was not pleased with how American breeders were selecting bucks with more feminine characteristics – bodies with less depth, longer necks and smaller heads. The wether kids begin to look like lambs, he suggested.

Instead of having 60 per cent body and 40 per cent legs they are just the opposite.

“They are weenie barreled, long necked giraffes,” said Homeyer in expressing his displeasure.

One of Homeyer’s South African Boer goat bucks actually became more famous than its owner. Tarzan was a buck imported as an embryo from South Africa to a recipient doe in Australia where it was born.

After winning a reserve grand champion status in Australia it was brought to the U.S. by Homeyer where it eventually became a national grand champion.

“It was a dream buck that very few people get to own,” recalled Homeyer. “It blessed me by living at my place.”

Tarzan died two years ago in Homeyer’s hands of heart congestion. He readily admits to crying like a baby at that time and shows emotion even in the retelling of the event.

In describing the conformation of a perfect animal, Homeyer said the animal should have an aristocratic bearing. The eyes of the person observing the animal should travel slowly and uninterrupted from nose to tail. Anything that would halt a person’s gaze would be a fault.

He believes the width between the eyes is directly proportional to the width in the shoulders and the width of the loin.  Likewise a long face indicates a long distance from the hook to pin bones on the rump.

Although some breeders would disagree, Homeyer prefers to see four functioning teats on female Boer goats. He also believes the breed should be adapted to be a more dual purpose animal, producing higher levels of milk to go along with its meat production.

These would be does capable of producing 90 pound kids at 90 days.

Since many of Homeyer’s does are already producing quadruplets, more milking teats is almost a necessity. Twelve per cent of births are quads with 33 per cent triplets, only three per cent singles and the rest twins.

His mortality rate is 12 per cent.

Male kids are taken right off the mother at 90 days and sold at 70 pounds at the Producers Livestock yard in San Angelo, the largest goat and sheep market in the U.S., selling 12,000 goats per week.

Homeyer doesn’t wean doe kids, leaving them on the mother. The result is family units of three generations eventually developing and raising kids together.

The goats kid three times in two years. Homeyer estimated his carrying costs at 23 cents per mature animal per day which includes some supplemental feeding on pasture. He owns 200 acres and has access to another 2,500. Twenty acres are required to carry one animal unit or the equivalent of six mature goats.

Llamas, donkeys and guard dogs are used to protect the goats from predators.

Approximately 200 buck a year are sold for breeding. “They are not fat and fluffy … they are lean and ready to go to work,” said Homeyer of the male goats.

There are currently three national goat associations in the United States with Homeyer belonging to all three. The competition between various associations and breeders is very intense with law suits common. Some breeders sitting on national boards bring their own lawyer to sit beside them at the meeting table, said Homeyer.

He currently spends about three months of every year traveling. He has judged over 8,500 animals at over 80 shows, including 11 international shows and five national shows in Brazil, Barbados, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Austria; given 100 seminars and conducted judging schools in Brazil, a country with 16 million dairy goats.

Homeyer estimated that every seminar makes him at least $10,000 through the people he meets who will buy stock from him within three years.

“I hate to go to bed at night,” said Homeyer adding his enthusiasm for his work has him always wanting to do more.

“I have the perfect job now.”

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