Ami Madden and her partner Paul Davis live on a 32-acre former dairy farm in Dunmore, Co Galway, where they rear ethically sourced “surplus” dairy goats for their meat, having diversified from sheep in 2016.
The couple also run training courses on goat husbandry and are making inroads into the rosé veal market.
The farm is also home to junior farmers Layla (10), Cooper (five) and Freya (four). Ami explains their family’s journey:
“I’m actually from Tallaght in Dublin, so it was far from a farm I was reared, but I always had a passion to work with animals and I now live and work on a farm, so I’m delighted.
Ami Madden and her partner Paul Davis live on a 32-acre former dairy farm in Dunmore, Co Galway, with junior farmers Layla (10), Cooper (5) and Freya (4). \ Sean Lydon
“I studied applied biology in Galway. Unfortunately, I never used it in my career; I took a job in retail. However, in my spare time, I started training dogs – pet obedience and a bit of fun agility – and that was how I first met Paul, who grew up on a farm in Longford.
“We decided to rent these 32 acres. It’s an ex-dairy farm, but we’ve kind of re-purposed it for what we do with the goats.
"When we moved here in 2013, we had a flock of sheep and we were training working dogs and stuff like that, but we knew that it wasn’t going to sustain the family.
“One morning I woke up and said, ‘I had a funny dream that the field was full of goats’. Paul being Paul, he started thinking about goats and looking at goats and wondering would there be something in it.
"He came home about two weeks later and said, ‘We’re going to get goats.’ And I’m like, ‘What? Are you mad? I don’t want to milk a goat!’ And he said, ‘No; for meat’.”
Sustainable system
“We don’t have a standalone herd of meat goats. We’ve made partnerships with very well-known dairy cheese makers like St Tola and Killeen Cheese, and we bring the Boer buck in there; I say he goes on his holidays!
“This year we will be introducing a Nubian buck as a dual-purpose bred goat. Then we buy back all the kids born to our bucks, male and female, because they’re surplus to the dairy requirement.
"It works, because we get a better bred meat goat and it yields a much better carcase, and the dairy still get to be at peak milk production, without any waste of kids.
Before getting involved in goat farming, Ami studied applied biology and worked in retail and in training dogs. \ Sean Lydon
“There is a loss of kids when they are born just to produce milk. If there is an avenue for kids into a meat system, it makes everybody’s process more sustainable and ethical.
“We rear them just like you would a bucket calf, but we feed three to four times a day in the first two weeks.
"They get milk until they weigh at least 12kg. They then move on to a meal that we’ve developed in conjunction with Irwin’s Feed, because goats have a high copper requirement.
“We couldn’t find a goat-suitable feed on the market, so now after working with the mill, there are three goat-specific feeds available to order here,through ourselves.
"The baby kids are bedded and fed on straw – very similar to probably a rosé veal system – but as soon as they are fit and strong, they go out to grass.
"Because they are a mixed breed, none of them grow exactly the same, but we aim for a live weight of 40kgs anywhere from six months on.
“We take our orders in on a weekly basis, and we have a licensed abattoir kill for us and we also have a licensed processor to process our meat.
"Originally we thought our main market but be new ethnic groups to Ireland, but as it turns out, there is actually an appetite there for it with Irish people.
"And because it’s homegrown on our farm and we get it to our customers direct, there is a sense of ownership there from our customers and that they can follow our story, understand and see what we do.”
Versatility
“The texture would be very similar to lamb; if you could imagine a lamb chop, that’s most like what a goat chop looks like.
"But there’s only 3% fat and we castrate our males so that there’s no taint on them, they never have that gamey taste.
"I love goat ribs with a sweet Cajun sauce, made nice and crispy in the oven, but my mother loves roast and the kids would eat it anyway. It’s just so versatile. Any meal you can think of, if you want to try it with goat, work away.
If Ami Madden was not goat farming, she would have never met Bono. \ Sean Lydon
“This year, we had the opportunity to showcase our product at Electric Picnic after we were invited by Caitlin Ruth of Deasy’s Restaurant in Ring in Clonakilty. Bono happened to be walking by and we asked for a photo.
"He said, ‘I’ll catch you on the way back’, and in fairness to him, he stopped and we got a picture with him. But he didn’t get the chance to try any goat because it was all gone! But I wouldn’t have been at Electric Picnic unless I was farming goats.
“As well as producing goat meat, we also run training days at the farm. We’re big about knowledge transfer because we need more goat producers in the country.
"There’s still a huge amount of surplus out there to be grown, it’s a great product and there’s money to be made in it and when we get more growers on board, we’ll be able to look at export, but as a sole entity on our own, it’s not going to work that way. So we need other people to join in with us and we can grow this section of agriculture.”
New project
“Another new product we are looking into is rosé veal. Our rosé veal goats are let to grass when they are anywhere between eight to 11 months when slaughtered for meat.
"Paul has partnered up with a very large dairy up in Roscommon and we’re going to use the exact same system that we use for the goats, but instead of a bull, we’ve provided AI straws.
"Paul has decided to go down an Irish heritage route, so we’re looking forward to 30 Irish moiled-cross calves coming back to us in February and some speckled park cross calves. This new venture is moiledparks.ie.
“I think co-operative farming is the way forward in farming. Working alongside other agricultural businesses means we can do more on our smallish farm. Our farm can now grow far past it’s own fences.”
For further information or to buy online with nationwide delivery, visit www.goatireland.ie or www.facebook.com/goatireland/
Read more
My Country Living: for the love of sheep
My Country Living: a friend of Ferguson
Ami Madden and her partner Paul Davis live on a 32-acre former dairy farm in Dunmore, Co Galway, where they rear ethically sourced “surplus” dairy goats for their meat, having diversified from sheep in 2016.
The couple also run training courses on goat husbandry and are making inroads into the rosé veal market.
The farm is also home to junior farmers Layla (10), Cooper (five) and Freya (four). Ami explains their family’s journey:
“I’m actually from Tallaght in Dublin, so it was far from a farm I was reared, but I always had a passion to work with animals and I now live and work on a farm, so I’m delighted.
Ami Madden and her partner Paul Davis live on a 32-acre former dairy farm in Dunmore, Co Galway, with junior farmers Layla (10), Cooper (5) and Freya (4). \ Sean Lydon
“I studied applied biology in Galway. Unfortunately, I never used it in my career; I took a job in retail. However, in my spare time, I started training dogs – pet obedience and a bit of fun agility – and that was how I first met Paul, who grew up on a farm in Longford.
“We decided to rent these 32 acres. It’s an ex-dairy farm, but we’ve kind of re-purposed it for what we do with the goats.
"When we moved here in 2013, we had a flock of sheep and we were training working dogs and stuff like that, but we knew that it wasn’t going to sustain the family.
“One morning I woke up and said, ‘I had a funny dream that the field was full of goats’. Paul being Paul, he started thinking about goats and looking at goats and wondering would there be something in it.
"He came home about two weeks later and said, ‘We’re going to get goats.’ And I’m like, ‘What? Are you mad? I don’t want to milk a goat!’ And he said, ‘No; for meat’.”
Sustainable system
“We don’t have a standalone herd of meat goats. We’ve made partnerships with very well-known dairy cheese makers like St Tola and Killeen Cheese, and we bring the Boer buck in there; I say he goes on his holidays!
“This year we will be introducing a Nubian buck as a dual-purpose bred goat. Then we buy back all the kids born to our bucks, male and female, because they’re surplus to the dairy requirement.
"It works, because we get a better bred meat goat and it yields a much better carcase, and the dairy still get to be at peak milk production, without any waste of kids.
Before getting involved in goat farming, Ami studied applied biology and worked in retail and in training dogs. \ Sean Lydon
“There is a loss of kids when they are born just to produce milk. If there is an avenue for kids into a meat system, it makes everybody’s process more sustainable and ethical.
“We rear them just like you would a bucket calf, but we feed three to four times a day in the first two weeks.
"They get milk until they weigh at least 12kg. They then move on to a meal that we’ve developed in conjunction with Irwin’s Feed, because goats have a high copper requirement.
“We couldn’t find a goat-suitable feed on the market, so now after working with the mill, there are three goat-specific feeds available to order here,through ourselves.
"The baby kids are bedded and fed on straw – very similar to probably a rosé veal system – but as soon as they are fit and strong, they go out to grass.
"Because they are a mixed breed, none of them grow exactly the same, but we aim for a live weight of 40kgs anywhere from six months on.
“We take our orders in on a weekly basis, and we have a licensed abattoir kill for us and we also have a licensed processor to process our meat.
"Originally we thought our main market but be new ethnic groups to Ireland, but as it turns out, there is actually an appetite there for it with Irish people.
"And because it’s homegrown on our farm and we get it to our customers direct, there is a sense of ownership there from our customers and that they can follow our story, understand and see what we do.”
Versatility
“The texture would be very similar to lamb; if you could imagine a lamb chop, that’s most like what a goat chop looks like.
"But there’s only 3% fat and we castrate our males so that there’s no taint on them, they never have that gamey taste.
"I love goat ribs with a sweet Cajun sauce, made nice and crispy in the oven, but my mother loves roast and the kids would eat it anyway. It’s just so versatile. Any meal you can think of, if you want to try it with goat, work away.
If Ami Madden was not goat farming, she would have never met Bono. \ Sean Lydon
“This year, we had the opportunity to showcase our product at Electric Picnic after we were invited by Caitlin Ruth of Deasy’s Restaurant in Ring in Clonakilty. Bono happened to be walking by and we asked for a photo.
"He said, ‘I’ll catch you on the way back’, and in fairness to him, he stopped and we got a picture with him. But he didn’t get the chance to try any goat because it was all gone! But I wouldn’t have been at Electric Picnic unless I was farming goats.
“As well as producing goat meat, we also run training days at the farm. We’re big about knowledge transfer because we need more goat producers in the country.
"There’s still a huge amount of surplus out there to be grown, it’s a great product and there’s money to be made in it and when we get more growers on board, we’ll be able to look at export, but as a sole entity on our own, it’s not going to work that way. So we need other people to join in with us and we can grow this section of agriculture.”
New project
“Another new product we are looking into is rosé veal. Our rosé veal goats are let to grass when they are anywhere between eight to 11 months when slaughtered for meat.
"Paul has partnered up with a very large dairy up in Roscommon and we’re going to use the exact same system that we use for the goats, but instead of a bull, we’ve provided AI straws.
"Paul has decided to go down an Irish heritage route, so we’re looking forward to 30 Irish moiled-cross calves coming back to us in February and some speckled park cross calves. This new venture is moiledparks.ie.
“I think co-operative farming is the way forward in farming. Working alongside other agricultural businesses means we can do more on our smallish farm. Our farm can now grow far past it’s own fences.”
For further information or to buy online with nationwide delivery, visit www.goatireland.ie or www.facebook.com/goatireland/
Read more
My Country Living: for the love of sheep
My Country Living: a friend of Ferguson
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