Introduction
The goat industry has seen steady growth over the past decade, especially in Ontario. The dairy sector has seen a consistent increase in the volume of milk produced. The number of inspected dairy producers has plateaued, but the volume produced per farm in Ontario continues to rise. The meat sector has had relatively steady numbers of animals sold in live auctions and slaughtered from 2023 to 2025. 2025 meat prices were generally higher than in 2024 and have remained high in 2026. The overall goat meat supply in Ontario was higher in 2025 with continued high prices indicating that there is still room in the marketplace for industry growth.
Inventory
Goat inventory data is only collected through the Canadian census. The last census was conducted in 2026 but the information won’t be available until spring 2027. The following inventory data is based on the 2021 census data. With 58% of the total goats in Canada, Ontario has the largest share of the goat inventory. Alberta and Quebec both have the second largest percentage of goats at 13%. Figure 1 shows the percentage of goats by province in 2021.
The number of goats in Canada increased by 12.3% from 2011 to 2021, with the Ontario goat population growing by 27.4% over this period. Figure 2 shows the number of goats by province for the past 3 census counts. This figure illustrates that most of the Canadian growth happened in Ontario with some growth in the western provinces and a decrease in numbers in provinces east of Ontario.
The number of goat farms has decreased or remained stable in all provinces, as seen in figure 3. It is important to note that figure 3 shows all farms reporting goats, not goat farms. The decreased number of farms with goats and the increased number of goats has resulted in a Canadian average of 52.8 goats per farm in 2021 compared to 37.9 goats per farm in 2011.
Producer Demographics
As seen in figure 7, dairy goat operators are, on average, younger than other farm operators. In 2021, the average age of a dairy goat operator was 44.8 years of age, up from an average of 42.8 years in 2016. Whereas the average age of farm operators in Canada was 56 years of age in 2021.
The Dairy Industry
In 2025 there were 198 licensed goat milk farms in Ontario. This is a slight increase over the 194 farms in 2024. The number of farms peaked in 2017 at 290. Figure 4 shows that farm numbers have been decreasing steadily since 2017 before the small increase in 2025.
Figure 5 shows the estimated milk production in Canada by year from 2010 to 2025 and what proportion of that is Ontario and Quebec production. Milk production in Ontario has steadily increased since 2017, while production in Quebec has been slowly decreasing. In 2025, Ontario produced 90.0% of the goat milk in Canada. Ontario had a 16.3% increase in milk production between 2017 to 2025.
The consistent milk supply and decrease in farm numbers since 2017 in Ontario, indicate an increase in average milk production per farm (Figure 6). The average volume of milk produced per licensed dairy goat farm per year in Ontario has changed from 183,793 litres in 2017 to 313,131 litres in 2025, an increase of 70.4% more milk per farm.
Cheese Imports and Exports
Figure 8 shows the imports of soft goat cheese in kilograms from 2008 to 2025. Soft goat cheese is the only imported cheese type identified as a goat cheese by the Canadian Dairy Information Center. Imports increased by 94.2% between 2019 and 2021, and have been steadily decreasing since then, with a 33.4% decrease between the 2021 high and 2025.
Table 1 shows the import quantities of select natural and fresh cheeses in kilograms. Feta, Crontonese, Ricotta, and Romano typically use a mixture of cow, sheep, and goat milk. Feta and Ricotta cheese imports have increased over the last decade, whereas Crontonese and Romano imports have decreased.
Table 1 Quantity (in kilograms) of select natural and fresh Canadian cheese varieties imported since 2015.
| Selected Natural and Fresh Canadian Cheese Varieties Import Volumes (kg) | |||||
| Year | Goat | Feta | Crontonese | Ricotta | Romano |
| 2015 | 129,762 | 817,727 | 46,161 | 3,998 | 102,289 |
| 2016 | 111,439 | 812,570 | 15,730 | 10,080 | 74,059 |
| 2017 | 97,052 | 805,426 | 14,183 | 14,479 | 136,448 |
| 2018 | 94,284 | 1,045,590 | 68,356 | 11,398 | 191,900 |
| 2019 | 146,276 | 1,039,162 | 22,874 | 15,038 | 71,559 |
| 2020 | 105,050 | 1,128,320 | 26,714 | 16,816 | 98,236 |
| 2021 | 204,043 | 1,371,738 | 17,582 | 19,456 | 66,495 |
| 2022 | 181,766 | 1,363,985 | 19,816 | 32,016 | 67,839 |
| 2023 | 175,065 | 1,605,467 | 16,919 | 25,413 | 61,622 |
| 2024 | 159.395 | 1,794,938 | 17,234 | 45,896 | 33,541 |
| 2025 | 132,890 | 1,885,136 | 16,096 | 83,226 | 77,145 |
Source: Canadian Dairy Information Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Gjetost cheese is the only type of goat cheese with available export information. Just over 12,000 kilograms of Gjetost was exported in 2025. Export quantities have been erratic, with no Gjetost exports between 2019 and 2025 as shown in figure 9.
The Meat Industry
Slaughter
Goat slaughter in Ontario primarily occurs in provincially inspected plants, with less than 1% of goats being slaughtered in federal plants. Goat slaughter numbers increased from 2016 to 2023 with a slight decrease in 2024 and 2025, as seen in figure 10.
Figure 11 shows the number of goats slaughtered in provincial plants across Canada. In 2025, 78.6% of goats slaughtered in provincial plants were in Ontario. This means that Ontario consumes approximately 78.6% of the Canadian goat meat, since provincially inspected meat cannot be moved between provinces.
Live Market Volume and Price
Figure 12 shows the number of kids and goats sold at live auctions since 2010 in Ontario. After rapid growth between 2014 and 2019, there has been a 15.0% increase in the number of kids sold between 2019 and 2025 at live auctions in Ontario. The number of goats sold at live auctions showed modest growth to 2019 and a decrease of 35.3% between 2019 and 2025 in the number of goats sold at live auctions in Ontario.
Figure 13 shows the monthly variation of kid prices over the past 6 and a half years. Kid prices fluctuate significantly throughout the year with higher prices received in the first half of the year. In 2025, monthly kid prices ranged from a low of $369.45 per 100lbs in September to a high of $594.68 per 100lbs in June. Average monthly prices have remained high in 2026.
Figure 14 shows the monthly goat prices in Ontario. Goat prices in Ontario have a less distinct pattern than kid prices but do fluctuate throughout the year. In 2025, goat prices ranged from a low monthly average of $316.19 per 100lbs in September to a high monthly average of $440.27 per 100lbs in June. The average monthly price was 10.6% higher in 2025 compared to 2024. 2026 prices have been stable and will likely have a similar annual average price to 2025.
Trade
Live Goat Imports and Exports
There is a limited number of live goats imported into and exported from Canada, as seen in figures 15. Since 2015, there has been less than 700 goats imported into Canada. In general, few goats have been imported into Ontario between 2010 and 2025, with the most imported in 2008. Most live exports have been from Ontario. Live exports have dwindled since 2019, with zero goats being exported in 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Goat Meat Imports and Exports
Over the past 15 years, Canadian goat meat imports have fluctuated often significantly year to year as seen in Figure 16. 2025 saw the largest import of goat meat with 4,226,578 kilograms arriving in Canada. Ontario generally receives over 40% of the Canadian import. In 2025, Ontario imported 48.7% of the total goat meat imported into Canada. The quantity imported into Ontario increased by 104% from 2024 to 2025.
As seen in figure 17, most goat meat imports are from Australia, along with a significant quantity from New Zealand and occasionally a few kilograms from other countries. In 2025, 4,145,550 kilograms were imported from Australia and 81,021 kilograms were imported from New Zealand.
There is little goat meat exported from Canada. From 2009 to 2016, there was a small amount of goat meat exported in most years. Since 2016, the only goat meat exported was 21,124 kilograms in 2021.
Ontario Goat Meat Supply
The Ontario goat meat supply is made up of provincial production and imported product. Average carcass weights are not available from provincial slaughter plants. Figure 18 estimates the Ontario supply of goat meat using an average carcass weight of 15 kilograms for all slaughtered goats. When imports are higher, more goat meat is eaten. Using these supply estimates and Ontario population estimates, estimated consumption for 2025 was 0.20 kilograms per person in Ontario, a significant increase over the estimated consumption of 0.14kg per person in 2024.
Conclusion
The Ontario goat industry is a small but growing industry. The industry is primarily made up of dairy goats but there is a strong goat meat market with good prices and room for growth in Ontario.
Updated by Delma Kennedy, OMAFA.
