Ben Anthony

909 Highway 1 North

Marianna,  AR 72360

Years in commercial operation:   30 years farming, 12 years raising goats

Total acreage:   35 acres in pasture, 40 acres for commercial vegetable production

Acres used for goat production: all acres are used for goat production. During the summer, the goats graze on the pastures, during the winter the goats glean the vegetable stalks and culls.

Years farming: 30 years raising vegetables, hogs, and cattle. Started raising goats 12 years ago when quit raising hogs.

Types of vegetables grown:  greens, squash, butter beans, sweet potato, and watermelons. 

Farm overview

Ben is primarily a vegetable producer growing 40 acres of greens, squash, butter beans, sweet potato, and watermelons. He sources a variety of markets to get the best price for his produce.   He sells his squash and butter beans to Walmart and his greens are processed and packaged in zip lock bags and sold by Growers Food. Ben and several neighboring farmers obtained grant funding from the Walton Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation to build a drying building for sweet potatoes. In 2006, this group of growers planted over 300 acres of sweet potatoes, using minimal chemical inputs in order to meet stringent production standards for Gerber baby food.  Ben also grows watermelon, which he sells at a road side stand.  

Ben has always managed an integrated animal and crop operation.  For almost 30 years, he raised hogs and beef cattle in addition to his vegetable production. About 12 years ago, Ben sold off his hogs and decided to raise goats. Before starting his herd, Ben attended several meetings and workshops on goat production.  Even after he has raised goats for 12 years, he continues to improve his knowledge of goat production by attending workshops. Most recently, he attended a training at Langston University in Oklahoma and a goat workshop in conjunction with the Southern SAWG 2006 annual meeting.  

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Goat production

Number of goats raised and sold:   Ben has 35 does and sells between 25 to 30 kids per year.

Goat breeds: A Boer buck crosses with either Boer, Kiko or Spanish does.   While Ben goats produce a mixture of crosses, he likes the Boer x Spanish cross best because the kids are large and grow rapidly.   In order to reduce inbreeding in his herd, Ben and Harvey Williams, another vegetable producer who also raises goats, will switch bucks for the next breeding season.

Timing of kidding:   Does are usually breed at the end of summer in order to kid in January or February.   This timing allows the does and kids to forage on spring and summer growth, reducing the amount of supplements needed..

Kidding practices:   Kids are born in the Ben's former hog barn. Ben places clean hay in stalls designed to hold a doe and a kid.   The barn contains six stalls to allow for six does o kid at one time.   Soon after kidding, the does are allowed to go out of the barn to graze, then return to take care of their kids.   After about one month, the kids move out of the barn and join their mothers on pasture.  

Goat feed: Ben runs his goats in the same pasture as his 22 cow-calf pairs. During the late fall and winter, the cows and goats forage on the stalks and culls from the pea and turnip greenfields.   Ben also provides them with hay.  During the spring and summer, the cows and goats graze on a pasture containing a combination of Bermuda and rye grass. Ben likes to graze goats with his cows since the goats each brushy plants and weeds that cows do not eat.  As a result, he gets additional production off the land while reducing the need to brush hog the pastures.

Ben supplements the forage by giving his goats pellets and other commodity supplements each day. They also have free access to a salt block. From the time that they are young, Ben provides his goats with goat pellets as a supplemental feed. By the time the goats reach maturity, they will eat about   1ž4 to 1ž2 pound of supplements per day. In 2005, Ben was able to get a load of cottonseed at a low price and has been able to use this as a low-cost supplement to reduce the amount of pellets he feeds his goats. All supplements are provided to the goats as free choice feeding.  

Pasture management:  Ben uses a rotation practice that moves animals to another pasture every 3 – 7 days.  To keep his pastures productive, Ben plants rye grass into his pastures in the fall. To allow each paddock to recover and regrow, Ben maintains 5 paddocks in his pasture. He also subdivides his vegetable fields, and rotates his cattle and goats among paddocks during the winter gleaning season.  

Fencing: To keep both his cattle and goats in the pasture, Ben uses hog wire with a strand of barbwire at the top for his outside fences.  For paddock fences, he uses 4 strands of hot wire.  This system securely keeps his animals in the pastures.

In the past, Ben had problems with “jumpers” or goats that get out of the pasture by jumping over the fences. Since goats are natural mimics, other goats tend to follow the lead of the jumper.  Once he got rid of the lead jumping goats, the other goats stayed in the pasture.   

Parasites and diseases: Intestinal parasites and hoof problems are the main health concerns.   Ben manages parasites by using pasture rotations, giving his goats worming medicine every 6 months, and checking their condition regularly to ensure that they are not coughing or have pale eyes.  To guard against hoof problems, Ben trims his goats' hooves regularly.  

Goat marketing

Ben lives in an area that has a high percentage of Hispanics who are continuously looking for goats to slaughter for fiestas, religious holidays, or weddings.   Because his farm is located close to a main road, potential goat buyers can see his animals.   Often, they will stop by Ben's house requesting to purchase a goat.   However, at this time, Ben sells most of his goats by word of mouth because he has been in the business for 12 years.   This ready access to buyers has allowed Ben to sell all his goats off the farm rather than having to take his goats to an auction.   Occasionally, Ben will sell a goat to a buyer who will slaughter it on his farm.   More often, Ben will sell the buyer a live goat and they will take the live animal with them.  

In 2005, an African man from Texas offered to buy all of the male goats that Ben Anthony and Harvey Williams could raise.   Since these goats are being purchased for a particular Muslim festival, all male need to be kept uncastrated and untagged.   While this agreement is providing Ben and Harvey with a secure market, they have had to arrange separate pastures for these bucks, away from the does.  

Risks encountered and addressed

Ben states that the most important factors for reducing risks associated with goat production are having good fences, preventing diseases through good pasture management and providing vaccinations on time, trimming hooves to minimize hoof diseases, and developing dependable markets.