Meat and Livestock Australia

28 Producer: • Bryan Milne (Proprietor) • Randall Graham (Manager) Property: • Tasman Station, 65 km north east of Ivanhoe • Corinya Station, 65 km north east of Ivanhoe Area: • Tasman 43,357 ha • Corinya 29,100 ha Rainfall (avg/a): • 304 mm Enterprise: • Self replacing composite goats sold to abattoirs for export and Dorper sheep Key messages • Current goat markets are largely commodity based which suits a low input rangeland production systems. • Constant introduction of Boers is critical to maintain production benefits achieved using their genetics. • Wild dogs pose a serious threat to the goat industry. Looking back Bryan purchased Tasman in 1995, adding the adjoining Corinya in 2001. At this time Randall was also employed as manager, a position he has remained in since. In pursuit of organic marketing opportunities, damara sheep were introduced in 1999 and carried for almost a decade. As the live export trade began to diminish and damara carcass composition was not well suited to the domestic lamb market, it was decided to move into Dorpers. In 2008 Dorpers were gaining popularity in the region for being hardy and productive animals. Rangeland goats had been mustered off the properties throughout this period, with Bryan developing fencing to contain and manage wild caught goats. With this success it was decided that a managed goat enterprise would be developed using rangeland goats and Boer goats as the genetic basis. After experimenting with breeding pure Boers, Randall quickly discovered that they required very intensive management and displayed very poor reproductive performance and survivability; achieving only 40 per cent marking from the first year. Randall then began joining Boer bucks to rangeland does and witnessed a dramatic improvement of survivability of kids. However he also noted that Boer bucks are very poor at competing with rangeland bucks to join does. From this time, Randall has undertaken a continuous breeding program of crossing Boers with rangeland goats to establish a composite line of goats that exhibit strong survivability and reproductive rates, with improved weight gains and carcass composition. The move into goats also resulted in substantial infrastructure development of primarily hinge-joint fencing. Tasman and Corinya have also held Australian and US organic accreditation, with endeavors being made to market product through these avenues. After a number of years pursuing the development of a premium animal to meet a premium market, Randall is now of the opinion that the business is better suited to producing a commodity product as efficiently as possible. This changed focus has resulted in alterations to business goals and re-direction of past priorities. Tasman Station CASE STUDY