Australia’s goat population may be bigger than previously thought
05/05/2017
Taking this into account, reports for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations have put their estimates of the size of the total goat herd in Australia at around 5 million head. Now Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has highlighted a research project that suggests the figure should be much higher, which should be good news for exporters of meat and skins.
A project drawing on existing information in New South Wales, compiled mainly as part of efforts to manage the kangaroo population, has been able to come up with new estimates. The study has taken from the data an estimated number of goats, “managed or unmanaged”, living in areas divided into square-kilometres. Applying these numbers across the whole of New South Wales, it suggests a goat population for this one state alone of almost 5.8 million head.
This news follows an increase in the popularity of Australian goat meat in the US after New Orleans chef Rebecca Wilcomb featured the meat on a popular television programme. Following the broadcast, MLA organised a number of events in the US to promote the meat. Its monitoring suggests that goat may feature on as many as 4% of all restaurant menus in the US and that its consumption there has increased by more than 40% in the last five years.
Almost 60% of Australia’s goat meat exports go to the US. Australian meat companies shipped more than 17,500 tonnes of the product to that market in 2015, bringing in revenues of around $120 million.
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