news, local-news, goats, Monaro, pest, animal, control

Landholders on the Monaro and Snowy Mountains region are singing the praises of some enterprising locals who are providing a free pest animal control service by removing feral goats from their properties. Coming into a tough summer, landholders in the Ironmungie area, south of Cooma near Dalgety, are very happy with the result of a recent feral goat muster undertaken by a young local couple, Brooke and Clint Riley of Cooma. Brooke and Clint with the help of some very good dogs and a couple of family members, mustered and removed 85 unwanted feral goats on a number of properties in the Ironmungie area. Brooke and Clint Riley regularly spend their weekends mustering and removing feral goats from properties on the Monaro and Snowy Mountains for landholders who ask for their help, which keeps them fit and brings in some extra cash. It is a win-win situation which provides a free pest animal control service to landholders and at the same time, some nice pocket money for the enterprising young couple. The Rileys said they spend about six months of the year mustering the goats and sending them to a mixed species abattoir at Wodonga. Brooke Riley said she and her husband Clint have been mustering goats on the Monaro for eight years. Last year they mustered and sent 800 goats to the Wodonga Abattoir. “We have removed feral goats from lots of private properties in the region, at Royalla, Williamstown, Numeralla, Bredbo, Chakola, Shannons Flat and Kybean,” Mrs Riley said. “When people hear we can get the goats off their property they call us for help. It’s word of mouth,” Mrs Riley added. About five landholders at Ironmungie opened their gates for the muster, as goats don’t respect boundary fences and belong to no one landholder. Local landholders Jo and Ossie Brewis are really happy with the results of the feral goat muster. Jo Brewis said she admires the young people who give it a go. “And it is doing us a favour by getting them off our place,” Mrs Brewis said. Mustering goats with the help of brother-in-law Charlie Byrne and Pop, Jacko Thompson, their dogs, a packed lunch, their young children it is an all in family affair. Clint Riley said the goats that can be sold – over 16 kilograms go straight to the abattoirs at Wodonga. “At the moment goats are making about $6 a kilo, averaging $80 a goat. Then there are transport costs,” Mr Riley said. “It is pretty much a hobby for us, but it is good to keep our dogs working.” South East LLS local manager Monaro Luke Pope said this is an excellent example how the community can work together, co-operatively to protect the environment, community and economy from the negative impacts of pest animals like goats, and to support positive outcomes for our landscapes and ensuring we maintain a bio-secure environment. “While government regularly supports landholders with pest animal control, through various programs, such as Feral Fighters, the co-operation of a number of landholders in the Ironmungie area, near Dalgety, and this local family, who have mustered and removed the goats, has been a very positive outcome. “SE LLS is supporting the landholders with continued surveillance of the feral goat population in the area by supplying some trail cameras which one landholder has set up near some salt licks,” Mr Pope said. The goats were transported to the Wodonga Abattoir which is one of the country’s major processors of rangeland goat, exporting to countries such as the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Middle East Countries. Wodonga Abattoir has processed about 300,000 goats this year, and goat meat is fetching about $6.20 a kilogram dressed at the moment. While the feral goat population in parts of southern NSW is high density in small pockets, out in the western division of NSW, around Dubbo and Broken Hill, there are very high densities with many farmers managing or semi managing feral goats as a part of their farming enterprise, this is not a common practice on the Monaro, where goats are seen as just another, expensive pest animal competing for valuable feed and a biosecurity risk.​

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Local couple provide free pest animal control on the Monaro