A good marketing strategy is the key to any successful business. Being able to reach your target audience is a good start, but you also need to keep other factors in mind. There are some periods in a year when there is a higher demand for goat products than others. You will need to position your business so that you are able to supply the right product, to the right people at the right time.

Selling live goats

In Southern Africa, goats are almost exclusively sold live for ceremonial slaughter in African homes. The majority of goats visibly sold in South Africa are imported from Namibia and sold at taxi ranks or at the side of the road. These are generally Boer goats. Large numbers of goats are sold, traded, and bartered between communities, families, and farmers. The highest value for indigenous goats is placed on castrates of 3 years or older. They are valued for their size mainly.

It is generally very hard to find young ewes (maiden ewes) for sale. Often, speculators go around the rural areas buying a couple of goats from each farmer until they have enough to make a consignment. The other important marketing time is around October when Muslims buy goats for Eid. Goat auctions have been tried by the authorities and have been moderately successful albeit expensive.

Consider that during the following periods there is a high demand for live goats:

• March/April – Easter weekend
• June – Eastern Cape (Slaughter of goats for traditional ceremonies)
• November – Muslim market
• December – Christmas market

Demand for different colours

Breeding for colours has become a popular pastime for stud breeders of indigenous

goats. Currently dappled and spotted goats are popular. You can greatly increase value of goats being sold to breeders in these colours. The popularity and peculiarity of these colours is often trend driven and can change quite rapidly over time. There are also colour biases among African buyers and these should be checked and understood in each locality.

Selling live goats in large numbers at auctions

If a number of farmers can agree to sell goats as a group, they can reach a critical mass where they can start controlling the marketing of these goats. This is usually done through an auction or sales days. Auctions can be a very useful tool to set the price for goats and sell a large number of goats at market prices within a short time.

For an auction to be successful these are points to consider:

• Communities must be mobilised because auctions need to be strategically timed to occur when buyers will need goats.
• If they are for meat goats (cull females and castrates) the best time for selling would be around November.
• If they are for breeding stock (rams and maiden ewes) the best time would be in March when they are looking their best.
• There needs to be a critical mass of goats per auction (approximately 400 to 600 goats). If too few, buyers will not be bothered, and costs may be too high.
• There needs to be a critical mass of buyers (10 to 20) otherwise the prices will be low as the buyers will not compete or will buy what they need and leave early.
• At all auctions, a percentage (known as the agent’s fee) gets kept by the auctioneer (usually 8%). The auctioneer can keep the whole amount or split the income with the organisation (farmers’ association) that organised the auction, as arranged before the time.
• Sometimes farmers who are not members of the association can present goats at the auction, but these are auctioned last and as a result can sell for lower prices.
• Animals need to be tattooed with a minimum of a dip tank number and optimally with the owner’s personal tattoo. They must also be treated for worms and ticks before the auction and the seller must provide proof of ownership.
• Farmers need to agree on a minimum selling price beforehand with the auctioneers, if not, prices may not be acceptable to the farmers, and they will lose money.
• The Livestock Anti-Theft Unit must be informed of the sale and preferably be present.
• The post-auction process needs to be well organised so that farmers can get paid or take their unsold goats back home without the stock getting mixed up.
• Advertising for the auction must be done well in advance so that buyers from further away can plan to attend.

Options for financing auctions:

Subsidised auction: This type of auction can be paid for or subsidised externally by the state or NGOs. Here an entity separate from the livestock association or farmer group carries the cost of the process and infrastructure.

Private or industry paid auction: This is the more common type. The farmers’ association or similar structure pays the auctioneer to hold the auction. In addition, the auctioneers charge a fee per animal sold (often 8%). Often, if a minimum number of superior quality animals is guaranteed, the auctioneers will not charge the livestock association anything and will make sufficient profit from the commission charged.

What this means is that beyond the advertising costs listed below, with at least 400 goats sold and 8% commission collected, the auction should not cost anything more.

Items that need to be considered as costs for auctions:

Advertising and informing buyers – this is done by the auctioneer though appropriate newspapers and publications. A text message or short message service (SMS) is commonly used to inform buyers who have a relationship or history with the auctioneer. Advertising in national media outlets can be very expensive. A text message system is charged at cost of bulk messages which is often a lot cheaper.

Informing sellers – this is done by the livestock association.

Sale pens – there is a need for gates that can be erected in a way that goats can be kept in separate lots and channelled to the auction arena and then kept in separate groups belonging to different buyers. Access to a loading ramp facilitates the loading of goats after the auction.

Staff – to mark each goat coming in, check that ownership is legitimate and agree on conditions of sale, to hold and control the goats in lots, feed them and water them, and to separate and hold them for buyers.

Food and water – for the goats.

Financial systems – to allow transfers of money between buyers and sellers. It is preferable if sellers are paid electronically by the buyer, but options for paying with a cheque or cash may also be required. Cash liquidity is a requirement.

Security – The buyers at the auction will need to know that their cars are safe while they are attending the auction. Security is also needed to ensure that no livestock is stolen at the auction, or that stolen livestock is being sold.

Auctioneers – to conduct the auction.

Transport – to transport goats to the auction and if unsold, to transport them back home.

Tent and stands/seats for buyers – Permanent structures can cut these costs.

Informal roadside sales – Informal sales are an alternative to formal auctions.

Advantages

• There is no organising
• The seller agrees on the price with the buyer.

Disadvantages

• There is no assurance for the buyer that the goats are not stolen.
• Sellers are not always informed of what their goats are worth so often a local speculator can abuse the pricing.
• The health of the animal cannot be guaranteed.
• Farmers often sell at times when they need money so they may be more likely to take a lower price as they need quick cash.

Regular markets

These are regulated by farmers’/livestock associations and covering small geographic areas. This is another alternative to large, formal auctions.

Advantages

• There is control and oversight so there is less selling of stolen goats.
• As it is a regular event, there are more than one buyer so competition can lead to higher prices.
• Farmers can walk their goats to the market point and back.
• If there are enough goats, buyers’ prices will stabilise.
• Associations charge a smaller commission but still get the benefit of organising it for their members.
• Being regular events, the farmers can plan and manage their herds in order to produce numbers needed for household income (e.g., planned sales versus selling only when quick cash is needed).
• There is a higher level of quality assurance for the buyers.
• One can begin to track supply and demand data for indigenous goats based on these regular sales which is currently not known.

Disadvantages

• There can still be speculators setting low prices.
• Robberies may occur because of cash regularly being carried to buy quantities of goats.
• Without infrastructure it is necessary to keep goats tethered for long periods, which is a challenge.

Sale of skins

The market for value-adding for skins has been explored extensively and although there is a huge demand, the fact that people slaughter at home at different times of the year would mean that to collect and properly preserve these skins has been unviable.

A local South African market for goat skins for making traditional leather marriage skirts, izidwaba, does exist. The skins and the finished product have high value compared to selling skins to car manufacturers, but it is a limited market – geographically and in terms of volumes required.

The information in this article is credited to Mdukatshani, Heifer International South Africa and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Devel­opment who published the Goat Production Handbook in 2015.