Better return from goats than sheep

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 6

Better return from goats than sheep

Farm and station.

In the long term, returns from Angora goats were likely to be from three to five times higher than from sheep, Mr S. R. Moorhouse, sheep and beef officer with the Ministry of Agriculture at Rangiora, told some 80 persons who gathered on the property of Mr Scott Rutherford at Mouse Point, Culverden, last week-end for a field day on goat farming.

. The farm on which the field day was held is one on to which more than 500 feral or wild goats have been introduced, mainly from Wairoa in the North Island, for an upgrading programme to Angoras. Mr Rutherford told the visitors that the goats were being carried with the same number of sheep as had been run previously. The two types of animals seemed to graze alternative fodder. Mr Ralph Woodward, a director of Elitex Fibers Australasia, Ltd, said he believed that there would be a continuing demand for mohair, the fibre produced from the Angora. He forecast that markets for natural fibres would improve steadily. He could not see production of oilbased synthetic fibres increasing rapidly — they would rather be in shorter supply so that natural fibres were likely to come into their own. The United Kingdom, he said, was the principal user of mohair, whether pure or of crossbred origin. Quite a lot of the fibre was going into men’s suitings, he said, and he described as an eye-opener the amount of the fibre that was going into velours, or a type of velvet used in drapes and furnishing fabrics. Mr Woodward said that the mohair produced by individual countries was distinctive in itself and he also spoke of the range of quality or fineness of fibre produced by Angora goats. He said that a lot of people commented that they were unable to comprehend how the fibre was so fine when it looked so coarse. The best fibre from kids ■was of about 60s -64 s quality, he said, which was of about the fineness of Merino, but it differed from Merino in having greater bulkiness. At the other end of the scale he said that the fibre from bucks or crossbred fibre produced during a grading up programme could be around 40s count and akin to Lincoln type wool. Most would probably be in the -50 s -52 s classification and akin to Corriedale or Halfbred wool. Mohair, he said, had qualities of lustre or shine. When the price for it went too high, he said that manufacturers moved into use of acrylics and to Lincoln wool. Pleasant blends, he said, were achieved with mohair, acrylics and wool — the use of acrylics with mohair was an advantage from the point of view of the better dyeing effect obtained.

Mr Woodward displayed some overseas mohair, from South America, which he said was worth $25 per kg, but warned that people should not be mesmerised by some of the high prices paid. New Zealand, he said, had a different product. For some first cross fibre that he had sent to Bradford a few months ago he said the price indication that had come back had been that it was worth ■about $9 to $lO per kg. ‘ Mohair and crossbred fibre that he had sent overseas more recently was considered by the people overseas to be rather

“kempish” but they were interested in importing it. For reasonably pure kid fibre he said that the price indication was about $13.60 per kg, for young mohair other than kid about $11.40, adult mohair about $9 and buck mohair down to about $7.50. For some of the crossbred fibre exhibited at the field day he said that the price was likely to be about $5 to $6. Mr Woodward urged that the fibre produced in New Zealand should be handled through a central marketing authority. The amount of fibre currently produced in New Zealand, he said, was very small, although in four years time it could be considerable. Urging that it should be marketed through one organisation, he said that it should be handled in the simplest way possible, being perhaps layered in bales with individual consignments being kept separate in this way. In looking at the economics of goat farming Mr Moorhouse emphasised that mohair prices fluctuated more widely than wool, with the present high level of prices being the result of the current trend to use of mohair. Where people were in the grading-up stage and dealing with crossbred fibre production, Mr R. Reynish, of the Ministry of Agriculture in Timaru, advised against over-preparation of the clip. All preparation, he said, should be done on the shearing board. Most of the crossbred fleeces had a distinctive kemp line and if the fibre was removed from the board to a table for preparation to be done there it was likely to fall right through the fleece and be very difficult to sort out. Otherwise he said that stains and coarse hair from the tail should be removed. Once the purebred stage had been reached, he said that more preparation then needed to be done. Mr D. G. A. Cassells, who is chairman of the registration committee of the Mohair Producers’ Association. described a classification system that has been developed for Angora goats, necessitated he said by the expansion and widening of the concept of goat farming and the need to find markets for mohair. Discussing the criteria that will be followed, he said that an important factor would be mohair quality, but account had also to be taken of the animal’s ability to walk and graze. Rather than having a

single classifier, he said that it had been decided to have a panel or committee of people from al! parts of the country who were “learning and involved.” Mr Moorhouse said that it was in the equatorial regions of the world where there were the most goats in the world and where most goat milk and meat were consumed. It was in Asia and Africa where goat meat was traditionally eaten. Goat meat was lean and carcases were higher yielding as a consequence, but they tended to be light. Mr Moorhouse suggested that in looking for mar-

kets for goat meat the first requirement was to ascertain the sort of product that was required by these markets. He said that there-was a need both for all the year round slaughter facilities and also the establishment of the religious requirements for slaughter. In its exports of goat meat totalling 930,300 kg in 1975-76 with the Caribbean region being the main outlet, Mr Moorhouse said that New Zealand was not competing with the other major exporter, Australia. However, he said that as with other export products like lamb and beef the return to the producer was only a fraction of the market price. So only 10 per cent of the price for a 14 kg goat carcase in Fiji was coming back to the producer. More than a half of the total costs of marketing the product was incurred overseas.

To ensure that the producer obtained a greater return, he said that it was necessary to promote a local market. He said that a taste panel at Ruakura agricultural research centre at Hamilton had shown that New Zealanders were quite happy to eat goat meat. There was no smell with it, but it was sometimes not as tender as other meats. Mr Moorhouse said that he believed a palate could be developed for goat products. From his own experience he said that goat liver and kidneys were very enjoyable, and he added that there were ethnic groups in New Zealand who would have a preference for goat meats. On the subject of the likely good long returns from Angora goats compared with sheep, Mr Moorhouse said that a good part of the returns were derived from sale of surplus stock and in the South Island the average return at the moment at about $3 was not high enough and they would like to see it up to $8 or more for a meat carcase.

A likely good viable future for milk production from goats is foreseen by Mr G. J. Batten, a senior advisory officer with the Ministry of Agriculture in Nelson. He said that those already involved in milk production from gOats regarded it as being good.

Because enough goats could be carried on a smaller area than a conventional dairy unit, he said that the return on capital was much higher. But a problem was a lack of suitable stock. Mr Batten said that the development of a goat dairying unit could be approached by buying in purebred kids or upgrading from ferals. In the latter case he said that only about 10 per cent of ferals would be shown to be worth upgrading from. A problem was also involved in assessing milk potential and this could only really be done by looking at kid growth rate as an indication of milk production in the upgrading programme. Looking at the future for such an enterprise, Mr Batten said that there was a current unsatisfied market for liquid milk; and a market both in New Zealand and overseas for cheese production, although

the price overseas for cheese would be less than in New Zealand. Milk powder was also being exported. | Milk from producers in the Tasman area at the top of the South Island, he said, was going to the factory, where it was made into fetta cheese, which was superior to that produced in Australia. At this stage because of the smallness of the volume being handled he said that the return was not very high and producers were only about breaking even, but production is expected to increase sharply. In the course of grading up, Mr Batten said that

some first, second and third cross animals could be worth milking. In opening the field day, Mr G. D. Miller, the senior farm advisory officer with the Ministry of Agriculture at Rangiora, described the goat as an exciting animal that had been neglected in the past, and had it not been he added that the country might have had less problems. Markets for goat meat were nearer to New Zealand than for beef, lamb or venison. “In the long term I think that we can have a fair amount of confidence to continue with the goat enterprise,” said Mr Moorhouse.

In a year he said that membership of the Mohair Producers’ Association had increased from 28 to more than 200.