A 12-MONTH project to establish a registered milking goat operation in the Shoalhaven is coming to fruition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Caleb and Meagan Graham have established Maple Ridge Farm at Falls Creek, where dairy goats will be run on a 32ha property off Comberton Grange Road.
The Grahams plan to construct sheds for the $100,000 12-a-side herringbone rapid exit dairy, milk vats and storage of equipment, plus goat yards and grain silos for storing stock feed.
Caleb grew up on the family’s dairy farms at Pyree and Numbaa, and while he loves animals, he says cows just weren’t “his thing”.
“I still wanted to be a farmer and started exploring alternatives and came up with goats,” he said.
“They are lovely, smart, friendly, awesome animals. They are quiet and will follow you around. But as kids they also like to run, jump and have fun.”
The Grahams already boast a herd of 210 goats, of which 100 are kids and the rest milkers.
Initially it is planned to milk 50 goats, each providing between two and three litres of milk a day.
The goats will be able to graze in nearby paddocks during the day, and at night will be moved into sheds to protect them from wild dogs and other predators.
“They get fed lucerne chaff, supplements and minerals and hay,” Mr Graham said.
“They don’t like getting wet, so we have structures for them to get under and will eventually have a large shed area.
“It has been a big learning curve and a fun project.”
Work has started on the dairy and he hopes to have it up and running and be milking goats by Christmas.
The gestation period for a goat is five months, and it is not unusual for them to have multiple births – two or more are the norm, with Mr Graham delivering his first set of quads recently.
South Coast Milk will process Mr Graham’s milk, while he is also looking into other possible markets.
“It is a much softer milk on your stomach,” he said.
“It is also sweet and it’s great to make cheese and soap products, even men’s shaving creams.”
Nationally the goat milk industry is worth about $30 million per annum, with 12,000 goats producing six million litres a year.
Around 60 per cent the national output goes into cheese production, 35 per cent as whole milk, and the balance as goat milk powder.
For his father Ron, who dairy farms at Numbaa, the suggestion by his son to get into the goat industry didn’t surprise him.
“He told me lots of times he wanted to get into it and I kept putting him off, but the more we looked into it the more viable it became,” he said.
“From a bale of hay, goats will produce more milk than cows can and the milk is worth three times as much as cows’ milk.”
He said in New Zealand, a co-operative of 50 suppliers turn over $100 million a year, selling a tin of powdered milk in South Korea every nine seconds.
“The more I learn about the industry the more I’m amazed,” he said.
“There is more goats’ milk and meat consumed in the world than cows’ milk and meat.
“Consumption is huge through Asia, in China, India, the Middle East and Africa.”