Their milk and meat have made goats a prized possession for many — and now western Queensland producers are taking them on as they look to diversify because of the ongoing drought.
High costs of feed and supplements have resulted in fewer cattle and sheep in the region, and graziers like Anita Dennis, from Blackall, have moved to goats.
Seven years ago, Ms Dennis and her husband Joe decided to take advantage of the rangeland goats that were already on their property.
The trial was so successful the family decided to scale back their cattle herd and make more room to breed goats.
“We began by wild harvesting out of the channels on our property, and then we started purchasing some goats in,” Ms Dennis said.
“We had a good base ground of our harvested goats before we started buying others — that was important.”