PEST MANAGEMENT Feral Goats
Goats can live in remote and inaccessible areas and can be difficult to manage
Feral Goats
Feral goats are a declared species
in South Australia. Reduce the
impact of feral goats in the SA
Arid Lands by getting involved in a
coordinated control program.
Active control of feral goats (Capra hircus)
has great benefits to the land manager. It
reduces grazing pressure and damage to
fences. Goat control also decreases the risk of
contaminated wool and outbreaks of exotic
diseases such as footrot, Q-fever, tetnus and
parasitic worms.
In the SA Arid Lands where landholders have
taken specific actions to take control of their
business and improve grazing management,
results have been encouraging with better
maintenance of native perennial pasture
species, increased lambing percentages, and
good stocking rates, even in drought years.
This factsheet outlines feral goat impacts,
reminds landholders of their legal
responsibilities in managing this declared
pest animal, and highlights the benefits of
getting involved in a coordinated feral goat
removal program.
Feral goats eat into your drought reserves!
Legal status
Feral goats are a declared species under the Natural Resource Management
(NRM) Act 2004. Landholders are required to control feral goats on their land with
their release carrying significant penalties under the Act. Controlling feral goats is
important for sustainable land use as well as for conserving natural ecosystems in the
SA Arid Lands region.
Distribution and habitat
Australia has at least 2.3 million feral goats. They are present over much of the continent,
with greatest numbers occurring in the semi-arid pastoral areas of Western Australia,
western New South Wales, parts of South Australia and central and southern Queensland.
A 2010 Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) survey estimated that
there are 320,000 feral goats in the SA Arid Lands region alone.
Annual aerial surveys in the South Australian rangelands over the last two decades have
shown an increase in the feral goat population in some areas. In contrast, where there
have been coordinated control programs numbers have remained stable.
Feral goats inhabit rugged hilltops, cliff-faces and isolated country safe from predators with
a preference for ranges in the semi-arid rangelands. They require a reliable water supply
and can have a home range of up to 379km2 in arid areas. In drier periods this range
becomes smaller as animals remain closer to permanent water.
Goats can graze preferred plants up to a height of 2 metres as shown
in this browseline on a Quandong tree
Ground based goat mustering can be effective as part of a feral goat management plan
Social behaviour and reproduction
In arid areas breeding can occur throughout the year depending on seasonal
conditions. Their gestation period is 150 days and twins are common. In good seasons
there can be two breeding events in one year so the population can double in size in
less than two years. A female is capable of conception at six months provided the body
weight is more than 15kg. Adult goats weigh about 45kg (female) and 60kg (male).
Impacts
Feral goats contribute to land degradation by overgrazing palatable pasture
plants and browsing established trees and shrubs preventing their regeneration.
Feral goats eat a wide variety of plant foods such as leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, fruit
and roots. They will eat most plants, including some that sheep and cattle avoid, but
usually select the highest quality food available and can therefore have a considerable
impact on native vegetation and land condition over a relatively short period of time.
An individual goat can consume at least 4% of its body weight in vegetation per day
depending on the species of plants consumed and their nutritional value. For a 50kg
goat that means two kilograms of vegetation a day or 730 kilograms of plant material
over a year. 500 feral goats will eat nearly 400 tonnes of palatable vegetation every year
in paddocks which may also be used for sheep or cattle.
As well as polluting waterholes, feral goats also directly compete with stock and native
animals for water (with this comes increased costs/demand for water pumping/supply
for stock), and can reduce waterhole/spring levels and exclude some animals from
drinking. Goats also compete with some native animals for food and shelter, such as the
threatened Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby.
Goats occupy the
same habitat as the
threatened Yellowfooted Rock-wallaby
MAINTAIN:
Biodiversity
of plants and
animals
Control of your
assets
Pride in your
business
Help to save
locally threatened
species
Feral goats are like rabbits on your property,
they just don’t dig warrens!
Management
At least 40% of the feral goat population must be removed each year to stop the
population from increasing.
The most effective means of reducing the feral goat population and protecting the
productivity of the land uses a combination of techniques and is conducted over large
areas to reduce reinvasion from adjacent areas. In a coordinated control program the
sale of feral goats provides a financial incentive for best practice pest management. It can
partly offset the costs of their capture as well as other follow-up control measures such as an
aerial cull to remove surviving goats. To achieve a reduction in feral goat grazing pressure
it is important to remove all age classes of captured goats with significant penalties for the
release of any feral goat under the NRM Act 2004.
A reduction in feral goat population is not achieved through opportunistic mustering or
trapping when market prices are high or when seasonal conditions are favourable, as
populations soon recover when control is relaxed.
Mustering
Trapping
Mustering can be achieved by ground
or air or a combination of both. However,
mustering alone is not as effective in
reducing populations as mustering
followed by an aerial or ground cull to
remove remaining goats.
Trapping, like mustering, may make a profit
due to the sale of captured animals, but is only
effective during dry times, and in places where
access to water can be controlled. Legally,
animal welfare considerations apply to the
humane treatment of goats whilst being held in
trap yards.
Effective management of feral goats for
pastoral and conservation benefit must
be ongoing and cannot rely on market
forces but there are significant savings to
be had if aerial mustering is coordinated
with neighbouring properties.
For example, at their current market
price, only 15 goats per hour need to be
mustered to pay for a helicopter, with
profits from any extra goats put back into
improving muster yards/portable yards or
a follow-up aerial cull.
Shooting
Aerial and ground shooting are useful to control
inaccessible or low density populations or to
remove survivors from other control campaigns.
DENR is willing to support land managers
to remove feral goats using trained aerial
marksmen if this method is used as part of a
coordinated control program.
Judas goat
The Judas goat technique involves exploiting
the sociability of goats. A radio collar is
attached to a feral goat, which is released
and then tracked along with the herd that it
has joined. This method is labour intensive and
requires specialised equipment or training and is
usually a final option after the majority of goats
have been removed. DENR staff have access to
collars if required.
Get involved
Coordinated control programs between adjacent landholdings are critical to
achieve effective control as mobility and high reproductive rate can result in a
rapid increase or a build up of goat numbers.
Sets of portable mustering yards are located on trailers throughout the region and
are available for hire to assist with your integrated feral goat control program.
For further information contact regional SA Arid Lands DENR staff
on 08 8648 5300.
Produced July 2011