Historically Black University Holds Conference on Goat Meat Production

Florida A&M University, the historically black educational institution in Tallahassee, recently hosted the inaugural National Goat Conference. It is believed to be the first ever conference on the goat livestock industry held by an academic institution in the United States.

Ray Mobley, director of cooperative extension programs at Florida A&M, organized the conference. He notes that, internationally, goat is the most popular meat source. In the United States, about 2.5 million goats were herded this year. This is up 25 percent from five years ago. The popularity of goat meat in this country is primarily due to an increase in the immigrant population from the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, where goat meat is popular.

Dr. Mobley is a graduate of Florida A&M University. He holds a master’s degree in public health from Tulane University and a degree in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University.

Copyright © 2010. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.