Meat and Livestock Australia

10 On farm productivity On farm productivity is clearly linked to developments in a number of other industry areas, however a few key priorities were raised. Industry benchmarks are important in being able to assess enterprise productivity, and profitability. NSW DPI has produced industry gross margins for goat enterprises, however these are in need of being updated (DPI, 2006). In 2016, a MLA funded study was published outlining the economic impact of including goats into established farm businesses. By using case study properties, this considered a range of production systems across a range of environment types. It was concluded that in five of the six businesses analysed, goats provided an increase in profitability (Agripath, 2016). This report provides a great resource for those considering entry or diversification into a managed goat enterprise. The Cost of Production calculator is another very useful tool that has been developed with MLA funding. Completed in 2014, it allows producers to calculate, track and compare their cost of production (Francis, 2014). This is critical in understanding enterprise profitability and measuring performance over time. Until February 2016, depots operated without any specific regulation, however they are now required to be registered under the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) (MLA, Feb 2017). This involves the depot Property Identification Code (PIC) being accredited with Livestock Producer Assurance (LPA), passing an annual LPA audit, having a goat depot NLIS database account, a letter from a goat processor indicating intention to purchase stock, and compliance with all NLIS requirements. Gaining registration allows depot operators to continue to trade under the mob based NLIS system without the need to tag goats (GICA, 2018). This change was initiated in order to ensure industry standards were maintained. Associated Standard Operation Procedures were developed by the Goat Industry Council Australia (GICA) and Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC). Boer goat survival and joining success in the rangelands is an area of interest and frustration for producers. While clear benefits have been displayed by establishing Boer-rangeland crosses, much difficulty has been faced in achieving reasonable survivability of introduced bucks. This is compounded by poor kidding rates to Boer bucks. Research into this was done in 2007 on Bushley Station (Atkinson et al, 2007). Results indicated that Boer goats were more susceptible to nutritional deficiencies and internal parasites than rangeland goats. These factors, along with mouth issues and seasonal conditions resulted in the majority of mortalities. However this trial did demonstrate that through closer management and a sound induction/acclimatisation process, reasonable survival and kidding rates can be achieved. Purchase weight was identified as a primary variable influencing survival, with heavier goats being most likely to die. This indicated that acclimatisation of goats at a young age is important. Limiting access of rangeland bucks to does also increased the marking rate of kids sired by Boer bucks (Atkinson et al, 2007). No additional research has been done on this topic.