Meat and Livestock Australia

50 Livestock In the long term, Big Ampi intend for managed goats to be the primary enterprise. However this will not be achieved until capital works are completed, allowing goats to be effectively held and managed. Goats are joined every eight months with the aim to achieve 130 per cent kidding rates across all seasons. This results in an annual kidding rate of 195 per cent. Production goals at Big Ampi are to have goats reaching a live weight of 35 kg by eight months of age. Goats are sold at this point, achieving a 15 kg carcass (43 per cent dressing). In order to achieve a consistent supply of goats across the year, joinings are staggered. Unmanaged rangeland goats continue to be mustered and trapped across the two properties. They are sold directly to abattoirs in a first instance, or held to be grown out if underweight or if greater numbers are required for a load. Due to the fencing program and sensible paddock selection there have not been any problems with unmanaged bucks joining the station bred composites. In the future unmanaged goats will continue to be a resource to harvest, albeit for a different market. Husbandry When coordinating joinings, the priority for Big Ampi is to achieve condensed kidding periods. For this reason, bucks are joined at the relatively high rate of four per cent for the first four weeks, with an additional two per cent added for the remaining two weeks of the six week joining period. While time is given for does to be joined over two full estrus cycles, higher buck numbers aim to achieve majority of joinings at the first cycle. Ideally, they would love to be able to synchronise oestrus cycles across doe herds in order to further condense kiddings. However at this point there are no effective means of doing so on an extensive scale. Does are scanned in early pregnancy to identify those that are pregnant and empty. Empty does are given one chance to be re-joined before being culled. Going forward, Big Ampi intends to scan for singles and twins, and have this data compiled against the RFID tag of that specific doe. In doing this, they would also consider running single and twin bearing does separately to better target their nutritional requirements. Kids are weaned at three months of age, weighing around 15 kg. Maintaining a strict weaning time is important to make sure does are able to be rejoined within eight months. This ensures does meet the targeted three kiddings over two years. At the time of weaning, kids are vaccinated with a six-in-one product to protect against clostridial diseases and cheesy gland, with a booster given in the weeks following. While not a common practice in extensive livestock enterprises, this was picked up from the manager of Mt Hope station who had previously implemented vaccination as a standard practice. Goats are not drenched routinely but will be drenched if required. This is assessed based on seasonal conditions and faecal egg counts. All bucks are left entire as castration is not considered necessary due to the young age of stock at slaughter. However they would implement this if benefits or requirements became apparent. Due to the prevailing dry conditions across the region, Big Ampi goats are currently being supplementary fed. Feed rations have been developed to match the requirements of each stock class using barley, lupins, faba beans, corn and hay. Stock are fed using paddock feeders to reduce wastage and animal health risks. While some industry work indicates that rangeland goats do not utilise such feed types well, observations from Big Ampi indicate it is not so clear. They suggest that a composite goat may utilise this higher quality feed better than a pure rangeland goat. At present, goats are only supplementary fed due to limited availability of quality pasture. In the future however, it may be considered as a means of supplying optimum nutrition to breeding does at critical times. Wild dogs are a growing risk to Big Ampi. While noticeable losses have not yet been experienced they are well aware of the threat posed. In response to this they take part in regular coordinated baiting programs. Doe and kids during September 2017 kidding Does and young kids