Goat production growing across Australia

The Meat & Livestock Australia Global Goatmeat Snapshot shows that goatmeat production in 2022 increased 37 per cent on the previous year, totalling 28,463 tonnes carcase weight.

The average over-the-hook price for goat is currently between $3.20 and $3.37 cwt, down from $9/kg in mid 2022.

Despite the higher processing volumes, average carcase weights maintained over 17kg per head in 2022, contributing to the increase in production.

Production lifted in all states, with Victoria processing the most at 933,496 head, followed by Queensland at 455,309 and South Australia at 235,046 head.

NSW is considered Australia's largest source of goats, supplying abattoirs in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

Despite producing only a small portion of the world's goatmeat, Australia is the leading exporter at a 31pc share of global volume, with exports reaching an all-time high value of A$261 million in 2022.

The US remains by far the largest market for Australian goatmeat, taking 12,505 tonnes swt, followed by South Korea, which has seen rapid growth in recent years, driven by increasing consumer interest in health and positive health associations with goatmeat.

In 2022, Australian goatmeat exports to South Korea grew 76pc year-on-year to 3,756 tonnes swt and accounted for 99pc of import volume.

Its value reached a record high after doubling from the previous year to total A$48 million.

Canada, Taiwan, and Trinidad & Tobago are also major destinations but an export surge to China's mainland during the first quarter of 2023 means it is currently also a top market.

The surge has been supported by a combination of now-zero tariffs under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, low prices and an opportunity to feature at a May Day BBQ festival held in Shandong Province.

Live goat exports are a different story and hit their lowest volumes for some time in 2022 following several years in decline.

Although the majority of Australian goatmeat is harvested from semi-wild rangeland herd, the Australian Agricultural Census estimates the number of goats under a managed or semi-managed production system grew 82pc from 2015-16 to 2020-21.

About 9pc of goatmeat is consumed domestically but goatmeat sales are projected to continue their upward growth trajectory of 4.9pc compound annual growth rate over the next five years.

Keeleigh and Brian Allport from Grassland Goats, Moonie, Queensland are among producers confident about trajectory of goatmeat within Australia, adding a processing facility near Warwick to their business earlier this year.

They currently run about 30,000 head and process 500 head a week.

Ms Allport said the decision to buy the butchery earlier in the year allowed them to add a secondary processing element to the business, breaking carcases into cubed product and primal cuts.

"We employed a full-time butcher and a full-time meat packer and we're now actually looking at employing another full-time butcher and meat packer as well as our numbers increase," she said.

"We found that there was need in the market for cubed goat and it's certainly much easier to freight around the countryside than a hanging carcase.

"We're almost at capacity... we had to get some onsite freezer storage, we started with one 20 foot shipping container and now we've got two... so we're looking to expand our production and storage areas already."

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Ms Allport said a lot of consumers were wanting better access to high quality goat meat, and the changing Australian population meant there was growing demand.

"We're getting a lot of interest from Sydney and Melbourne, from wholesale butchers and meat distributors," she said.

"We're building on our existing customer base and attracting new customers as well."