Leslie Svacina of Cylon Rolling Acres in Western Wisconsin sells goat meat directly to consumers through a farm website. After 10 years of pasture-raising goats, promoting goat meat to consumers, and teaching aspiring producers, Svacina was invited on national television.
The Hardcore Carnivore travels the country to meet with farmers and ranchers to cook and learn about alternate animal proteins. Cylon Rolling Acres was specifically chosen to highlight goat meat.
Svacina hosted the production crew in August 2023 to film the episode over two days. It included spending time outside with the goat herd and inside in the kitchen. The episode originally aired on Nov. 4 on the Outdoor Channel. You can watch the Cylon Rolling Acres episode by tuning in to your local provider that carries the Outdoor Channel.
Early on in her farming journey, Svacina knew if she wanted to sell pasture-raise goat products, she would be doing the groundwork herself. There is no established commodity group/USDA check-off program to promote goat meat to consumers. Svacina began sharing the nutritional benefits of goat meat directly to consumers. She worked with chefs to feature goat meat on menus and with food bloggers to develop goat meat recipes.
“I really want to see the U.S. goat meat industry thrive,” she says. “It’s still young and the demand is growing. I hope we can find more ways for farmers to effectively market and sell goat meat.”
Other farmers in the meat goat space started asking Svacina for advice on raising and marketing goat meat. In response to the requests, she has taught many in-person workshops. She took it one step further and developed an educational website called grazingwithleslie.com. This is a digital resource for farmers and ranchers to learn more about raising, grazing, and marketing goat meat.
