ferals
Submitted: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 at 23:58
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farmers have been farming feral goats of late tosubsadize there income.the question i ask is do think this is morrally correct to do this or do you think our fragile enviroment cant sustain this practise.this is a question from a concerned bush lover.ps,i know this has nothing to do with 4wd but you guys are out in the bush and see the damage vermin can cause.
Reply By: Trevor - Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 03:26
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 03:26
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.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: member-skippyking - Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 22:53
Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 22:53
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
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Alex H - Friday, May 09, 2003 at 10:50
Friday, May 09, 2003 at 10:50
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.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Jeff (Beddo) - Friday, May 09, 2003 at 21:52
Friday, May 09, 2003 at 21:52
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
AnswerID:
19547
Reply By: Old Jack - Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 16:46
Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 16:46
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.
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