Goat fibres, including cashmere and mohair are the basis of a new industry development programme being promoted by AgriFutures Australia.
While the Australian agricultural landscape is dominated by sheep, cattle and grain , the organisation says goat fibre, is poised as a new alternative.
Mohair and cashmere together account for 5.5 per cent of the total global supply, but new investment in research is planned to help Australian mohair and cashmere producers to scale their existing production and to attract new producers to the industry.
Heading the team is Dr Mark Ferguson, a seasoned expert with a background in breeding goats. Alongside him are Principal Investigator, Georgia Buchholz and staff from neXtgen Agri International.
With 14 dedicated team members, five based in Australia and the remainder in New Zealand, neXtgen Agri will collaborate with AgriFutures on building new opportunities in the growing goat fibre industry.
Currently there was limited data to describe the extent of cashmere and mohair production in Australia.
“The industry is made up of lots of small enterprises, which are hobbyist type setups with only a few larger mainstream farmers,” Dr Ferguson said.
“Our vision is to shift this landscape and make the goat fibre industry a viable alternative to sheep and beef.”
To achieve this, the project is planning to conduct an industry survey to gather baseline information, to establish an online portal for knowledge sharing, and launch a podcast to support industry growth.
“If you want to start out as a goat farmer, it’s pretty hard to know where to go to get the information you need, particularly if you want to farm at a large scale,” Dr Ferguson said.
“The goal is to bridge the information gap by creating a central online hub, ‘The Goat Fibre Gateway’, where people can go to access both the economic and on-farm aspects of goat farming, upcoming events, and a resource library including fact sheets and case studies.”
The Fibre Frontier podcast is a key feature that brings together growers, researchers, fibre buyers, processors, veterinarians and international guests to share yarns.
“Improved information flow and better awareness will hopefully make a positive impact on the rate of industry growth, which is our primary objective,” Dr Ferguson said.
To transform an industry, the project team knows a crucial stepping stone is shifting the perception of goat farming in the eyes of service providers.
“Towards the end of 2024 we will be looking to hold on-farm events and building case studies that will really help to change perceptions in a more specific, targeted way,” Dr Ferguson said.
“Field days will present tips and tricks for service providers in the goat industry. For example, we’ll be showing shearers different handling processes that make it easier on them to handle goats.
“Most importantly, through these on-farm events we want to get rid of the ‘hobby’ stereotype that currently marks the industry and make sure that people are aware that the goat fibre industry is actually a viable alternative to sheep and cattle.
“We’re in the end stages of working out what will resonate most with growers, but taking what we know from the sheep and beef industries and applying it to goats will inevitably shift the industry towards a more commercial focus.”
