The Cobar Annual Red and Black Goat Sale, conducted by Nutrien Russell last week in Cobar, which is the first local buck goat sale of its kind, broke a number of sale records from the outset.
Nutrien Russell’s Livestock Agent Luke Scales said they were “delighted with the outcome of the sale”.
“I think it’s a very, very big positive for the goat market and set the standard for rangeland goats in the future,” Mr Scales told The Cobar Weekly.
The sale attracted around 70 bidders as well as a further 60 interested buyers from across three states through the AuctionsPlus online forum.
The average sale price was $4,540 with 100 per cent clearance (which is a new Australian goat sale record), all 49 bucks on offer sold for an average of $4,502 (another national record), all 10 does sold at an average of $5,180 (another record price).
The top price paid for a buck was $9,000 by the Moselys from Ettiwanda for a Rangeland Red while the best priced doe, a Bunnaloo Black, went for $7,000. Both were again Australian record prices.
Mr Scales said the goat the sale was a concept he had developed with two of his clients.
“We’re trying to improve the genetics of the current rangeland nannies by putting quality, bigger goats from both red and black goats or red Kalahari goats into main stream rangeland operators.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work in the background trying to improve ways to manage rangeland goats and improve the marketability of rangeland goats.
“I think, in time, the feral nanny will cease to exist, I think they will become more managed. Everyone is managing their goats a lot better than they used to, there’s a lot of blokes classing their nannies now, different colour and type. I think the current trend is towards the red goat.”
Mr Scales said breeders are keeping their good nannies and putting them with Rangeland bucks to improve the carcass for both the domestic and export markets (mainly the American, Hawaiian, Mexican markets).
He said with goat meat the most widely consumed red meat in the world, tapping into that resource now and improving the genetics, carcasses and marketability would be a very good financial move.
