Nat replied:

They have been doing it for a long time know. At least 10 years that I know of. Without money there is no food on the plate.

Trevor replied:

They aren't actually farming them. To farm an animal implies a breeding program and a supply of food and shelter.
The goats, like most introduced animals, are well suited to the environment and have no predators, so they breed quickly and due to their huge numbers cause extensive damage to the available food and water supplies.
In the Flinders and Gammon Ranges regular culls are arranged, while some landholders also trap them for live export.
The land up there is very marginal and life is tough and as Nat says, it all helps put food on the table.

JackLivesHere replied:

I beg to differ Trevor. In WA there are land holders farming goats. They are hybridising boer goats with ferals.

Goats are no where near as forage intensive as say sheep. Because of the large array of tucker they can consume, at varying heights above the ground. They do not eat the grass back to dirt for erossion to take place.

Truckster (Vic) replied:

what car do they drive, and what fridge do they use?

Allyn (Pilbara) replied:

Seriously folks - goats above just south of the 26th parallel in WA are absolutely EVERYWHERE and yes they have been hybridised with Boers as they make for better export quality. I think they're more manageable too with the Boer breeding but I'm no expert. Now my opinion is if the farmer has to put up with the degradation of his property and these things are out of control then he may as well try and make some dollars out of the situation.
Besides they've got good road manners !

Rusty replied:

As far as I know when they say farm they don't actually mean it in the same sense. What most of them do is similar to the feral pigs and kangaroos etc.

They go out and hunt a few down and sell them. I guess calling it farming instead of culling or keeping the numbers down sounds better to most of those bleeding hearts in the city. They just want to fill their plates not actually think were it comes from or how.

Regards
Rusty

Member - Chris (W.A.) replied:

Put it this way, in W.A. you shoot a feral goat on a farmer's property the onus is on him to prove that the goat was actually domesticated by himself otherwise he doesn't have a case against you. As mentioned they have to be given a certain amount of care ie. food, contained in some sort of holding yards or paddocks and also tagged. It's not good enough to own a property and automatically assume you own all feral and native fauna on it - won't work.
But there legs taste good if chilled in chilli sauce in an engel fridge.
Love the bush.
Chris

member-skippyking replied:

Feral goats have long been a 'problem' in pastoral areas of WA. Back in the late 50's my father worked on a station in the Pilbara and when the sheep were mustered, so the goats came in with them. Back then there was no market for goat in this country, so they were disposed of in a pretty cruel way. They were drafted off from the sheep and sent down a race to 'freedom'. Only thing was, as they shot out the gate for the wide open plains, a bloke with a very long knife stabbed 'em in the guts. Saved having to cart away hundreds of carcases, they ran off into the bush and died. That was the way it was done back then.

Nowadays, when an order is recieved for a live shipment of stock to most Asian and Arabic countries, the order states "fill as much of the order with goats, then top it off with sheep". Their preference is for goat meat and it has been the saviour of many a pastoral family.

These days, they use 'water traps' to muster goats (and sheep). They fence off watering points, leaving a gate for access by the stock, and when they want to 'muster', they make the gate one-way. Very effective.

So, the pastoralist's are helping to control a feral pest and making some money. God knows they could do with some. They've got it tough out there, and most "slicks" wouldn't survive a few days putting up with the conditions and s*** they have to.

What's this got to do with 4x4? If the goats aren't controlled some way, there will be no outback, only desert.

SK

Alex H replied:

The number of goast you'll find on a station will be determined by the carrying capacity of the land, and how well they compete with both roos and whatever stock the station owner is trying to run (sheep or cattle). Usually you need about 3-5 hectares to sustainably run one sheep or goat. If the goats are more successful than the stock, they will breed up in large numbers, and the combination with the stock will lead to the land being overstocked resulting in degradation.
The obvious solution is to utilise the goats, as they are there anyway, and in most cases do better than sheep. The variety of fodder goats eat (scrub and bushes as well as grass) means that there is more tucker available to them than to sheep, and with water being the most limiting factor, and therefore controlling the level the population can reach, goats will not strip the land bare and not be as damaging as sheep.
A bit technical I know, but there is hard science to back up hte facts, as well as the need to keep food on the table.

Jeff (Beddo) replied:

From Broken Hill to Wanaaring I have been involved with Kangaroo and goat survey by plane - there are a heap of goats especially in the steep country where the sheep don't go or cattle. Farmers cull the roos or get a shooter - if he shoots them himself he gets some dollars - roos are in big numbers in the outback compared to pre-european days because man has constructed permanent water with all the dams and bores - so the roos now breed continuously. Anyway goats are a problem around Mootwingee NP where they have the Yellow footed Rock Wallaby (threatened Species) - goats displace these guys from the steep country, push young out of caves etc. The goats are a good income, at times farmers can make more money from goats than sheep - if you were a farmer you would be an idiot to cull out all the goats a major income earner - I would like to see them disappear from the landscape but it won't happen. It would be interesting to go back to pre-european times and see the vegetation differences compared to now and compare the wildlife aswell. With all the salt problems we have now and extinction of wildlife I think we would do things differently.

Have you heard that the Cane Toad is now in Kakadu and the wildlife is starting to die from feeding on them - Frog eperts are saying if you want to see this area - see it now before the wildlife disappears.Cheers, Beddo
Surf KZN185
<- Yengo NP, Central Coast NSW

Old Jack replied:

While looking at everyones comments about the goats, the feral goats are only ramdom bread domestic goat's anyway. a few years of being un kept & they all go feral. good one to go with the goates in central NSW are feral DEER running around in the area.

one place out near a town called Eugowra there is a National park Called Nangar, most of it use to be a Lease. The national sparks & wild fires flew shooters in choppers over the mountains for ages shooting feral goats & Pigs. went into the park a few weeks after this & you could still see dozens of them running around. 10 years ago when the area was still leased out the local boys used to go shooting in this area & that kept them under control, Now you go near the place with a gun & you could get arrested! oh well thats progress.