Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Breeder says goats need scale

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Owen Booth has trophies and ribbons highlighting the quality of his Boer goat herd but says there’s one major drawback for the industry.
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There’s just not enough of the breed in New Zealand to provide the scale to ensure good earnings for farmers producing them for their meat.

It’s hard to build markets and get dedicated processing space at meat plants, he says.

Of the 130,000 or so goats killed in NZ each year only 5% to 10% are Boer goats, a specialist meat breed introduced here from South Africa.

The industry is growing and, as breeders, Owen and Annette Booth cannot produce enough does at their Whitestone Stud in Milton to meet demand from here and abroad. 

“It’s growing but not fast enough,” Booth said.

He promotes the breed as a breeder and exhibitor and is heavily involved in the Boer Goat Association.

Whitestone has just completed another year of outstanding results at the Agricultural (formerly Canterbury A&P) Show in Christchurch, the country’s premier exhibition for the breed.

Its champion doe, under the romantic name WSB1324, was judged the 2018 Supreme Champion standard Boer goat following its first win the same event a year earlier.

Booth expects her to have a go at a triple crown next year. 

“She’s a five-year-old now and has held up very well. The Australian judge this year said she was well up to the standards over there.”

WSB1324 has produced quads in each of the last two breeding years and is a great example of the gain in Boer goat genetics in recent years, he says.

Whitestone began with high-quality Landcorp and Sunnypark bloodlines but took a big step forward in 2012 when Booth bought in 15 does and one buck from the Mugambi Stud in New South Wales. New semen lines were brought in two years ago.

Whitestone’s goats have won the Supreme standard Boer goat trophy in six of the last seven years at the Christchurch show and this year its entries received eight championship ribbons for the second year in a row, including one for the grand-champion buck kid (WSB1863).

Booth thinks his greatest achievement is being awarded the trophy for the most successful exhibitor for each of the last five years.

“It’s as important for us as having the supreme champion because it means you’ve got quality right across the herd rather than getting an award for one outstanding goat.

“We’ve won it every year since it started and we think that’s an incredible outcome.”

Booth is quick to promote the breed, saying its high-iron, low-cholesterol and low-fat meat is better than lamb.

He doesn’t say it should replace sheep but believes the breed can be farmed well in tandem with sheep and cattle.

“They improve the pasture for other stock through their weed control and if you put them into a lucerne paddock they’ll clear away the thistles first and while they will eat clover they’d prefer not to. 

“I think they’re an under-rated animal.”

Unlike sheep and cattle, goats also thrive in dry conditions and on second-class country without fertiliser inputs. 

Booth says the best way to increase Boer numbers quickly to reach scale is to catch feral does and put them to a Boer buck.

“You don’t get the meat quality from a feral goat that you get from a Boer but even on the first breeding cross there is a huge improvement.”

Boer goats are not a milking breed but Boer bucks can be used as a terminal sire over dairy goats.

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