NO KIDDING: New trend takes hold at saleyards
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IT MIGHT be time to add "goat” to the name of the Pig and Calf Sale as their yarding rate continues to outpace the bovine offerings.
Yesterday's sale carried a good mix of well-conditioned, purebred boers and rangeland ferals.
Millmerran farmer Ross Flynn offered 16 boers at the sale, aged four to six months.
Mr Flynn got into goats after dumping cattle a few years ago.
"At the moment a lot of people are breeding goats because they do well with the drought around,” he said.
"They are easier to handle than cattle.”
As the drought reduced the volume of cattle destined for the meatworks, it created a window for other sources of protein.
"From what I've read, the price of goats is up like the price of sheep,” Mr Flynn said.
Mr Flynn said his goats fed on drought-ridden shrubs and trees at his home block, and he gave them a little bit of grain to keep the meat tender.
He reckoned the males would be good eating.
"Someone could buy them and fatten them out a bit more but they are still good to dress out at about 20kg,” he said.
"You can get more out of them but with the drought, they are doing it a bit tough.”
