Goats answer to farm woes?

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 39, 11 March 1986, Page 18

Goats answer to farm woes?

In this article the Bulletin talks to Peter Berry about why he diversified into goats despite his family tradition of sheep and cattle farming.

Peter Berry and his son Cameron are third and fourth generation sheep and cattle farmers in the Waimarino but just over a year ago, foreseeing the downturn in sheep prices, they began looking for something new. Goats were the obvious choice becuase they complemented the bull beef already on the farm by eating poor quality pasture, leaving good quality clover and rye for the bulls. After buying two small herds of goats in June 1985 they took the plunge and bought 400 feral goats which was a real eye-opener for Mr Berry. Since last year they have been continually buying and selling, travelling to saies once or twice a week to sell, look and talk with top New Zealand goat breeders. "Saies are a drag — they're very long days, but if your going to get ahead you've got to be known," said Mr Berry. Just how do you learn to farm goats? "I learnt through the college of hard knocks," Mr Berry said. He has sought knowledge everywhere he possibly 1 could and although he read many books on the subject, he found many were too idealistic and often not applicable to this area. "The best way is to go to

an established goat farmer and have a good yarn," he said. The phone at the Berry household rings three to four times a night with intending goat farmers wanting to "pick my brain about goats," he said. "Someone going into goats is foolish if they don't use the knowledge of someone who's already in them — i I don't mind sharing what I've found out. I think anyone who's willing to give something a go deserves help," he said. Because of the colossal outlay for goats, Mr Berry believes people are very anxious when starting out. "You've got to be alert and with it, you can't make too many mistakes." He remembers several he made when beginning, one causing the death of 20 goats valued at $120 each, and another killing instantly a $2000 goat by giving the wrong vaccine. More skill is needed for goat farming than sheep because goats are high-stress animals and fragile. "You can't take the liberties with goats as you can with sheep," said Mr Berry. "If you leave a goat standing out in the cold, it will die, whereas if Vou do that to a sheep, it's not good for it, but it won't kill it." The pasture has to be right for goats and they thrive on poor quality grass. The Berrys farm four to five goats to one beef bull and they still farm sheep. Capital outlay Sheep farmers can diversify into goats without a lot, of initial capital outlay as natural.shelter and conventional sheep fences are usually sufficient. Income from goats can be very lucrative as goats pay $102 per stock unit, compared with approximately $20 for sheep. From what Mr Berry's wife, Maragaret, has seen of stock saies, farmers are "very excited at the challenge of their new venture." Mr Berry jokes: "Goat farmers take on the charac- ,

teristics of goats themselves — it takes one to know one!" The Berrys look upon their new venture as a terrific challenge and despite the anxious moments, Mr Berry says he enjoys farming goats. ■ His ultimate aim is to put five to six thousand G4 (first cross feral and angora) kids up for sale each year, but he believes this will not be achieved until next year. Embryo transplant He is experimenting with embryo transplants at present and three does are now in Te Kuiti being prepared for this. Thirty does will also have two embryos implanted in Te Puke in April. The sire of the embryos is the highest selling buck sold to New Zealand from Australia and embryo transplant is the cheapest way to get top stock. The cost of such a buck would be well in excess of $100,000. Recently there has been a marked downturn in the price of angora goats and Mr Berry believes a contributing factor is the threat of the proposed standard values tax. Buyers are unsettled and the price has decreased by

about half in a month, he said. Mr Berry believes the prices are stablising and doesn't envisage a great upward trend as there has been in the past. The reason for the sudden hike in goat prices in the past was because of big demand on the world market for cashmere and mohair wool, and goat meat. Goat meat makes up about two-thirds of the world's meat consumption with its main popularity being in the eastern countries, but it has yet to take off in New Zealand. Although goat farming is becoming popular in New_ Zealand, Mr Berry said it makes up only about one per cent of the world's goat farming enterprises. Although goats take up much of Mr Berry's time, he still puts people and his family a long way ahead of the animals. Fifteen years ago he established the Waimarino Christian Young Peoples' Group and still takes an active part in it. He is also chairman of , the Youth Haven Camp at Kakahi and member of the Ruapehu College board of governors. "The needs of people are far more important than a few goats," Mr Berry said.