After 150 years, Blackall's show is still hosting new ideas in the livestock world, which on Saturday included the debut of a new goat breed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
The pen of Australis Black goats were shown by Joe Taylor and Anita Dennis of Coolagh, Blackall, as part of the show's first ever goat section.
Ms Dennis, who was also the section's chief steward, said the breed, a combination of Black Kalahari, Boer and rangeland genetics, was something she and Mr Taylor had been working on for a while.
"We wanted to open up a bigger gene pool," she said.
"Rangeland goats have adapted well but we thought they could be improved on.
"The colour is different but they're similar to Aussie Reds in that they're great little browsers, tougher as far as parasites go, and have really good meat quality."
Ms Dennis went to the Santa Gertrudis Society for assistance with breed standards and breed descriptions for the Australis Black goats, and said they would be registered with the Kalahari Goat Association of Australia.
"The industry can only go up with this sort of work on breeds," she said.
"I'm the only Australis Black breeder at the moment - I think others with similar animals have gone into the Kalahari Red registry.
"I expect more people to take this avenue now that we've opened it up."
She and Mr Taylor have been operating the Seaford Red goat stud for more than five years, at one stage holding the Australian record for a goat price, and it was their pen of Aussie Red does that collected the inaugural grand champion ribbon at Blackall on Saturday.
Judge Dan Burton, a DAF senior biosecurity officer, described them as a very even line of goats with no faults that he could identify, and structurally sound.
Five exhibitors - Coolagh, Moorfield, Springleigh and Barcoo Boers at Blackall, and Doug and Janet Tindall, Janet Downs, Longreach, as well as Blackall identity Stew Benson - showed over 40 goats on the day, with Boers, rangeland Boer crosses, Aussie Reds, and a Nubian wether taking part, as well as the Australis Blacks.
Ms Dennis paid credit to the Barcoo Pastoral Society committee for backing the introduction of the section, saying they recognised that goats were behind wire these days, not just an opportunistic enterprise.
"I was really pleased with the support that was shown," Ms Dennis said.
"The district has some great goats and breeders that have been doing it for a while.
"You could see that in the quality of the entries."
Ms Dennis added that they'd been advised by the show committee of the amount of positive feedback there'd been.
"I think the value of introducing the section was in showing people what quality is out there," she said. "People remember them as a pest animal that smells but these goats were well bred young goats, between five and 14 months."
She said a number of producers had questioned her through the day about the ability of goats to regenerate pastures, as well as being a commodity.
"I think most people realise the really big money of a year or so ago wasn't sustainable," she said. "The beauty of goats is that there's so little input, they're going to be sustainable at a lower price."
Results
Pen of station bred bucks: champion - Moorfield, reserve - Moorfield
Pen of station bred does: champion - Coolagh, reserve - Coolagh
Heaviest wether: champion - Stew Benson, reserve - The Gums
Grand champion pen - Coolagh does