<p>The growth of Georgia's ethnic populations _ Arabs, Asians and Hispanics _ has made goats a hot agricultural commodity in the state, and the industry has even created an event to celebrate its success. It's called the Goat-A-Rama.</p><p>Sidney Law, who has helped host the shows since 1996, said he's heard about every goat joke in the book.</p><p>"I've been the butt of a lot of them, too. Get it," he said.</p><p>About 1,500 people, including goat producers and those interested in the profit potential of billies and nannies, are expected for the latest Goat-A-Rama, which will be April 8 in Tennille, an east-central Georgia town of 1,400, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta.</p><p>They'll attend lectures on nutrition and health and learn how to milk goats. They'll buy and sell dozens of goats. There's even a hoof-trimming demonstration.</p><p>Visitors also will have an opportunity to taste goat meat, known as chevon, which is widely popular in other parts of the world.</p><p>"People come to have fun as well as gain knowledge," said Frank Batten, Goat-A-Rama chairman.</p><p>Among the sponsors are the Washington County Meat Goat Association and the 325-member Sunbelt Goat Producers Cooperative, which has a chevon-processing plant in Washington County.</p><p>Experts say goats are a good fit for Georgia agriculture. They can graze in the same pastures with cattle and they gleefully nibble weeds and briars that cows cannot eat.</p><p>"We found out that everybody in the world is eating goat meat," Law said. "Now we've got everybody in the world here _ South Americans, people from the Caribbean, the Chinese, the Spanish-speaking people, the Muslims and on and on. They're all from parts of the world where goats played a key role in their diets."</p><p>Besides their meat, goats provide milk for drinking or cheese and leather for gloves.</p><p>Most of Georgia's ethnic groups are concentrated in the Atlanta metro area. From 2000 to 2004, the number of Asians in the state increased from 173,170 to 238,281 and the number of Hispanics rose from 435,227 to 576,113, according to the Census Bureau. A 2000 study estimated there were 32,469 Muslims in metro Atlanta. Their meats have to be processed in accordance with Islamic law.</p><p>Goat producers say they can't even keep up with the demand from the Atlanta area, where much of the ethnic population growth has occurred, much less consider shipping to other states.</p><p>Goat production has been increasing since the mid 1990s. The industry gained officials recognition two years ago when the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service decided it was significant enough to track, along with traditional commodities, such as peanuts and cotton.</p><p>With 91,500 goats last year and an estimated 98,000 this year, Georgia has climbed into third place in production behind Texas, the perennial giant with an estimated 1.3 million goats, and Tennessee, with an estimated 109,200, according to the statistics service.</p><p>Will Getz, an animal scientist at Fort Valley State University, said goat production also has been growing in other Southeastern states, including Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.</p><p>"We know that goats and sheep can compliment beef-cattle enterprises and horses," he said. "They tend to eat different forages, so they don't compete with each other on pasture."</p><p>Besides the obvious interest at the Goat-A-Rama, goat appeal is evident in other parts of Georgia. They are showing up in greater numbers at livestock auctions, and gaining popularity with 4-H club members, who can now compete for ribbons in statewide competition.</p><p>Jerry Franks is even considering a rent-a-goat business for property owners who want to use the animals to clear their land of weeds and briars _ a high-protein delicacy in the goat diet.</p><p>Franks raises goats and auctions them each Saturday at the Red Barn Livestock Auction in the southwest Georgia town of Sylvester. In two months, the number of goats at his weekly auctions has jumped from 35 to about 125, Franks said.</p><p>Batten, the Goat-A-Rama chair, visits the Sylvester auctions to purchase goats for the Washington County plant.</p><p>"A lot of people have gotten completely out of the cattle business because the prices fluctuate," Franks said. "They're replacing cattle with goats. The goats do a better job of cleaning up."</p><p>Fort Valley State University, which also has a goat processing plant, has played an important role in the growth of the industry, and Getz is a regular speaker at the Goat-A-Rama.</p><p>"It is established now," he said. "But there are new participants coming in all the time."</p><p>Batten, president of the goat co-op, said he just can't get enough goats.</p><p>"We have the potential to move anything that'll come our way," he said.</p><p>---</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdfdc0)</p>
