Goat

The goat inventory in the Philippines reached 3.64 million heads in 2025, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Negros Island Region is the top goat producer with 451.87 thousand heads. This was followed by Central Luzon with and Central Visayas with corresponding inventories of 431.18 thousand heads and 375.56 thousand heads respectively. Around 99.4 percent of the country’s goat population came from smallhold farms, while commercial and semi-commercial farms both contributed 0.3 percent.The breeding of goats can be done naturally or through artificial insemination (AI).

There is an increasing demand for goat meat, also known as chevon. Following the Philippine National Standard (PNS), the goat carcass is divided into six large wholesale cuts such as shoulder, rib, loin, leg, breast and shanks. Chevon can be sold as fresh or chilled. If chilled, it must be kept at 0 to 4 degrees Celsius to prevent bacterial growth.

Halal principles are also being incorporated in some of the goat production in the Philippines. For a goat to be considered as halal-compliant, the halal principles should be observed in the whole process of the production. Halal principles are based on religious foundations and technical aspects of cleanliness, hygiene and good health. This includes guidelines on strategic grazing, housing system, health management and slaughtering procedures.

The Philippine slaughter goat industry is beset by low productivity, stemming from farmers’ weak capacity to implement changes especially in smallholder farms due to limited knowledge on improved management options and lack of access to quality breeder bucks. There are also needs to improve natural conception rate, kidding interval, preweaning mortality, and slaughter weight. For halal goat production, more support services such as PNS and promotion modalities should be made available.