At times maligned as a destructive feral pest, the lowly goat has been enjoying a surge in popularity among farmers, producers, restaurateurs and foodies.

Key points: Some of the 127 goats on Dean and Donna Kitto-Trickey's property are hand-picked wild goats so they can handle the heat in far-west NSW

Some of the 127 goats on Dean and Donna Kitto-Trickey's property are hand-picked wild goats so they can handle the heat in far-west NSW Mr Kitto-Trickey was a carpenter until six years ago and says it's been a steep learning curve to making good cheese

Mr Kitto-Trickey was a carpenter until six years ago and says it's been a steep learning curve to making good cheese Restaurateurs say goats' cheese has come a long way in the past 30 years and is "universally" enjoyed by diners

Known for their unique taste and high nutritional value, goat's milk and cheese are becoming sought-after commodities and it's given rise to a small but growing industry.

Dean Kitto-Trickey and his wife, Donna, run a farm with 127 head of goats in Coomealla, on the edge of the outback in far-western New South Wales.

"We've got a mixture of breeds here but mainly Toggenburgs," Mr Kitto-Trickey says.

"We actually hand-picked some wild goats from up around the Pooncarie area [on the Lower Darling].

"We didn't really want dairy goats from down south that couldn't handle the heat, so the goats from here, our area, they're pretty tough."

A carpenter who bailed on a 43-year building career to start a goat farm six years ago, Mr Kitto-Trickey says it's been a steep learning curve providing a way of life he wants to retire in.

"We've had our problems," he says.

"When wild dogs come in and attack your herd it just shatters you.

"And I'd say about the first couple of years that we started making cheese I had the fattest dogs ever — if the setting of the curd didn't turn out right, the dogs were sitting at the front door ready for the cheese."

Tasty food is offered to dairy goats while being milked at a farm in Coomealla, NSW. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Douglas )

Today, having refined the process, Mr Kitto-Trickey says the cheese his goats produce is a unique blend of Australian, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern flavours.

"We're in a semi-arid desert region, so we match up what we believe is a similar area from overseas like in the desert regions of Israel, Macedonia, Malta, some of the Greek areas that are really dry, and Italian areas that are dry like Sicily.

"I love the Acacia — we've named it Acacia because of the acacia trees that the goats graze on here.

"It's got a slight citrusy flavour — very creamy, cooks well — and we styled it on an ancient Israeli cheese in a desert region.

"As far as I can tell, there's nothing like it in Australia."

Celebrity chef Stefano de Pieri encourages people to try artisan cheeses like goat cheese and to support local farms. ( Supplied: Stefano de Pieri )

Diners 'universally charmed' by goat's cheese

One of Mr Kitto-Trickey's customers is renowned Mildura chef and restaurateur, Stefano de Pieri, who says goats' cheese is very popular with diners.

"They are universally charmed by it," he says.

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"I use it in salad, and we have learned to use it as an entree in the restaurant.

"It is particularly interesting because — and this might sound like a contradiction — it's not particularly 'goaty'.

"In fact, if you were going to taste it blind you would say: 'Ooh, this is a very good cheese, a very good feta'."

A dairy goat produces around 2.5 litres during a milking session. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Douglas )

Mr de Pieri believes the drift towards goat cheese from small local farms is a response to the blandness of the mainstream cheese industry.

"I see a lot of imported French goat cheese here and there on shop shelves," he says.

"But the cheese industry itself here in Australia is highly regulated by the authorities —who we jokingly call the food police — who sometimes take all the fun away from it and when it comes to cheese, in collaboration with large industry.

"They like to have it pasteurised and put in a packet under plastic so it can last forever, but I didn't even regard that as cheese."

"There are artisan cheesemakers like the people we have in Coomealla here in Mildura, but, generally speaking, the cheese industry is just a big industrial complex."

Goat cheese is a versatile ingredient that can be used in all kinds of cooking. ( Flickr Creative Commons: Lukasz Koziol )

Goats' cheese 'really coming of age'

President of the Goat Industry Council of Australia, John Falkenhagen, has his own farm at Meningie in South Australia, where 1,200 goats produce milk that goes to factories to produce cheddar, brie and camembert cheeses for sale in supermarkets.

"I think we're really starting to lose the image of that rank flavour that probably used to be around 30 years ago," he says.

"It's really fresh, clean, crisp. It goes well with salads, and it goes really good on steaks.

"People are just getting used to using it, but it's really coming of age, I think.

"Hopefully that'll continue to grow."