Putting Billy on the dinner plate

IT’S hard to think that there’d be a land shortage anywhere in Ireland but that’s the reason a Longford man started farming in North Galway where he now heads up one of the few goat farms where the focus is on meat, not milk.
“You wouldn’t feed a rabbit,” is how Paul Davis describes the amount of land that was available to him in Co Longford when he was searching a few years ago. The now father of three felt his best chances were west of the Shannon and so he ended up leasing a former dairy farm about a mile outside Dunmore. 
Previous agricultural experience was garnered from a stud farm and sheep farming in Longford while his wife Ami, who is originally from Dublin, had no farming background whatsoever — that’s certainly changed now, Paul assures me.
The interest in goats came from Paul’s ever-busy mind when he was wondering what other agricultural enterprise he could turn a hand to. “We had plenty of sheds in good condition so they were suited for something indoors and I started looking into goat meat and learned about the rising trend and demand for goat meat. It’s the most eaten meat in the world.”
While countless restaurants and cafes now feature goat’s cheese in some form amid their vegetarian option or offerings, goat’s meat certainly isn’t a familar sight on menus. But Paul is adamant that this is changing rapidly and he has seen a considerable appetite among Irish diners and cooks for goat meat.

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