Livestock SA and the SA Arid Lands NRM Board spoke to key stakeholders to discuss feral goat management issues across pastoral regions in late 2016. Feral goats can be a problem for pastoralists and the environment, and are a pest species declared for control under the Natural Resources Management Act 2004 (NRM Act). In the Australian rangelands, the feral goat population has steadily increased and was estimated at 3.3 million in 2010. At the same time the value of Australian exports from goats has almost doubled over the past five years and was estimated to be $243 million in 2015.
Conflicting views on feral goats and their management can result in competing objectives amongst key stakeholders in South Australia’s rangelands. How to address the feral goat problem has been and continues to be a divisive issue, but is one that needs to be addressed.
The session format was interactive, with participants working together to map stakeholder positions on feral goats, and identify management objectives for feral goats and how these could be achieved. The deliberations will help to inform future policy directions for the effective management of feral goats on pastoral leases in SA.
