I think Con was putting a more nuanced (a word young people like to use these days, and one I hope I am using correctly) point of view. This is brought out by the 3 links he offers. First, there
is not, as David suggests, a problem with lack of demand for goat meat. Indeed, high demand for goat meat is part of the present predicament.
The first piece brings out ‘the value of goats to rangeland producers in hard times’, and calls for collaboration between producers and conservationists.
The second piece is an ABC report about concern that goat numbers are ‘plummeting’ due to (a) over-harvesting and (b) the drought.
The third piece, about a CSIRO research project, concerns rangeland goat management, clearly a central issue. It seems goat numbers can be reduced in national parks and other areas of high conservation
value by fencing artificial watering points in, and within 4km of, such areas.
Not a simple issue.
From: David Rees <>
Sent: Saturday, 4 May 2019 10:06 PM
To: Con Boekel <>; <> <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] out of area - clearing land using goats
Con
Familiar territory and I know what you mean, you can additionally see the same if you go out towards Cobar and Broken hill or west of Cunnamulla. Goats everywhere, makes you think what the export meat industry out there should be, Pity
we don't like goat, however it can taste good, we just need to educate ourselves to use it. Could also have solar farms for power on the buggered cleared areas, these would probably bring in a better income than the 3 years in 10 the area is suitable for
economic cattle production.
On Sat, May 4, 2019 at 4:59 PM Con Boekel <> wrote:
Hi everyone
We have just returned from a trip to Bowra - going north by way of St
George and south by way of Bourke.
The drought you all know about. Bird numbers at Bowra have fallen by
three quarters.
Several species listed as 'common' on the Bowra checklist are at the
moment entirely absent or present in extremely low numbers.
But the bad news, based on a cursory examination of many, many hundreds
of kilometers of uncleared grazing country, is that goat grazing seems
to be unsustainable over vast swathes of country.
Other than at locations like Bowra and and Gundabooka National Park, we
observed very little woody plant regeneration in Acacia woodlands and
shrublands.
It seems absurd to have clearing regulations on the one hand while goats
are effectively clearing vast swathes of Australia with no apparent
management of goat grazing pressure other than that driven by commercial
considerations.
regards
Con
https://landcareaustralia.org.au/project/the-need-for-change-in-rangeland-goat-management-in-the-western-division/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-08-02/goats-numbers-drop-due-to-drought-and-over-harvesting/10052836
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-08-02/goats-numbers-drop-due-to-drought-and-over-harvesting/10052836
https://www.publish.csiro.au/rj/rj10070
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