Meat and Livestock Australia

Rangeland goat production inWestern NSW: Where are they now? 21 Property and business development Bushley remains a single operator business, employing contractors at peak times to manage workload. While going into goats has allowed a reduction in workload from Merinos, Greg has not seen a change in work load over the past five years. Since first making the transition to goats, Greg has tried numerous fence designs. He believes seven or eight line hinge-joint on seven to eight metre post spacing is the most effective. Barbed wire is used above and below hinge-joint on boundaries but is not considered necessary on internal fences. With recent development in energisers, Greg is interested in trialing Weston electric fencing. Over the past five years Greg has further developed water infrastructure, piping water to troughs in areas of Bushley that were previously not well watered. Work has also been done to clean dams and drainage catches. An autodraft has been used in the past in order to ensure under weigh goats were not sold into domestic markets. However with changes to target markets it has not been used for the last three years. These changes involve the reduction of minimum carcass weight to eight kg and ceasation of selling into the domestic market, meaning weight requirements of sale stock are far more flexible. Greg has previously placed substantial emphasis on the value of shade in keeping goats comfortable and calm while being worked. Rooves have been built over the races and core working area of stock yards for some time. Greg’s belief in this has only strengthened recently, with additional roofing constructed and a shade sail on the way to ensure goats and staff are almost always shaded when in the yards. The ability to keep stock cool and reduce dust has also been added to by installing a sprinkler system. A new loading ramp has been purchased, resulting in loading time being halved. It has solid steel sides which Greg believes has resulted in goats flowing much easier and quicker. The ability to adjust ramp height has also reduced time spent changing decks on the stock crate and the stock flow disruptions these additional ramps cause. Greg notes that he was initially skeptical about a steel floored ramp (preferring a wooden floor) however has not noticed any downsides to this. Livestock Greg carries around 4,000 breeding does on Bushley, selling 3,000 to 6,000 animals per annum depending on seasonal conditions. In the past, kidding rates have ranged from 135 to 175 per cent p.a., however due to increasing irregularity in kidding times Greg has stopped trying to calculate weaning rates. A flock of 600 Dorper sheep are run purely for the purpose of market diversification. Dorpers are managed much the same as goats, being a low cost, low input enterprise. Dorpers are able to achieve a 200 per cent p.a. weaning rate. Greg also trades cattle as seasons allow, with the wet winter and rising markets of 2016 providing particularly good opportunities. Undercover stock yards on Bushley Station