Goats

Introduced to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788, goats were once valued for meat and milk. Today, feral populations damage farms, degrade vegetation and compete with native wildlife.

Feral goats are estimated to cause more than $25 million in losses to livestock farming each year, not including their impacts on the environment or pasture. Feral goats also negatively affect conservation values and biological diversity by damaging the vegetation and competing with native animals.

Feral goats are now considered among the 5 worst invasive species in Australia in terms of negative impacts on threatened species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act (Kearney et al. 2019).

A feral goat is a goat that lives in a wild state and is not being farmed or kept for another purpose. They are small, hooved animals with bucks weighing approximately 60 kg and does (female goats) approximately 45 kg. Their coat colour varies from white to brown or black and most have distinctive curved or corkscrew-shaped horns. Goats rely on a regular water source, and their home range usually centres around it.

Feral goats are highly social animals, and family groups typically associate together to form herds. They are most active during the day and rest at night in regular camps. Feral goats have a keen sense of smell and prefer to graze facing into the wind to detect the scent of predators.

Feral goats eat a wide variety of foods, including plant species that many other animals consider toxic, spiny or bitter. They prefer high-quality foods such as grass, leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, fruit, roots, plant litter, seeds and fungi.

Feral goats can breed all year round, although breeding tends to peak in autumn. Female can breed from 6 months of age and can produce young twice a year. Twins are common, and triplets can also occur. Populations of feral goats often have a higher proportion of females than males, which contributes to rapid population growth, with numbers potentially doubling every 1.6 years.