Data is king

Location: 25km from Collie and 30km from Donnybrook, Western Australia

Enterprise: Tambookie Boer goat stud

Producer: Isobel and Ian Palmer

Pasture type: mixed herbage

Why goats?

For Isobel Palmer, the attraction of getting into goats was “the exhilarating opportunity” to improve the Boer goat breed through genetic selection, creating a personal legacy and a legacy for the industry. Since 1996, this has been Isobel’s driving passion for their stud breeding enterprise.

Isobel and her partner Ian could see that through the scientific application of a combination of estimated breeding values (EBVs), ultrasound scanning to measure eye muscle depth and visual assessments, they could drive the genetic gains of their herd forward more quickly and with hard data to back them up.

For this reason the Palmers have been among the most dedicated contributors to the KIDPLAN program over the years.

“The aim is to continue to improve the breed to provide animals for commercial producers which suit their environmental conditions and proliferate their proven, superior genetic traits for growth rate and muscling – the factors which can most affect your profit,” Isobel said.

A focus on genetic selection

Through the use of pedigree and performance information, KIDPLAN provides simple, practical information on the value of an animal’s genes for production in the form of EBVs and specialised indexes.

EBVs allow producers to evaluate an animal’s genetic potential for traits that directly impact on the profitability of goat enterprises. They are calculated from an analysis of pedigree and performance information contained in the KIDPLAN database. EBVs are available for production traits including growth/weight, carcase (fat and eye muscle depth), reproduction and worm egg counts. EBVs can help producers select the best goats for the herd to meet their breeding objective (such as production or market requirements) and can be used to refine the goats produced through a seedstock herd, or lift the productivity of a commercial herd.

“Clearly it’s counter-productive to slaughter an animal if you hope to breed from it. We chose to use EBVs and scanning within our animal evaluation program as they provide a real-time measure of performance without having to slaughter it.  The concentration on EBVs as a means of evaluation has focussed and accelerated our ability to make genetic gains and improve our herd,” Isobel said.

Used in practice, this means that in the lead up to the controlled joining period, Isobel reviews all the animals and looks at the results from their nine-month scanning for their eye muscle depth, their EBVs and their visually assessable traits.

“We want to make the best genetic matches possible to get the best concentration of genes and therefore accelerate and concentrate the traits we’re selecting for,” Isobel said.

Six bucks were used this year as a part of the breeding program and the others are retained either for sale, are retired or are still being assessed as they grow out.

Fit for purpose animals are key

“Stud breeders have a huge challenge. You need to produce everything for everyone with the right mix of survivability, growth and muscling for your buyer’s needs and market requirements. The stud breeder must keep ahead of the commercial side of the industry and anticipate its needs,” Isobel said.

Isobel is clear that there are three main factors that determine choice when you’re looking to purchase breeding animals. 

• Temperament: a good temperament is essential and makes the animals easier to handle.
• Performance: go for the best EBVs you can buy so you’ve got the data behind you and you know what you can expect from those animals. You want to make sure you’re spreading the most superior genes you can within your herd to improve overall performance
• Confirmation: the animals must have sound feet, teeth and legs. They should have a meat carrying frame, functional teats, dark skin pigmentation to reduce the risk of sun cancer and for the same reason, solid colouring on their ears. Rounded well separated horns are ideal as well as it helps prevent more serious injuries when the bucks fight as legs are less likely to get stuck between horns and the horns are much easier to grab without causing injuries. 

Isobel has a zero-tolerance policy for freeloaders; “I’m like the Red Queen. Any non-performing or ill-tempered animals are culled. Off with their heads!” 

Being pasture fed keeps them honest 

The stock at Juggler's Rest are pasture fed with some mineral supplementation and in autumn, hay is brought in. The on-farm pasture consists of mixed herbage and the Palmers aim for 80-90% groundcover year round. The goats are rotated through the paddocks following a holistic management plan to avoid over grazing.

The rotational system also greatly assists with parasite management.

“Having all the animals on pasture allows you to easily differentiate between the top performers and the rest of the herd as the really good animals will do very well just on pasture,” Isobel said.

“It also means the animals are tougher and more suited to harder environments. They know they need to go out and forage for their food, not wait around for a hand out.”  

Kidding

“We’re expecting kidding to occur mostly between 28 August and 18 September this year,” Isobel said.

It’s an intensive time on the farm as Isobel’s practice is to tag and weigh all the kids at birth.

“This helps reduce confusion later on with mismothering and so on and it means we have an accurate genetic line and data.”

If there is uncertainty regarding parentage, the animals are DNA-tested to ensure the herd’s genetic records are accurate.

“This is vital as the more accurate the data you enter into KIDPLAN, the more accurate the results will be,” Isobel said.

Isobel also regularly hosts veterinary students at Juggler's Rest during kidding to help with their training.

“It’s a great way for the students to build up some practical field time and experience and of course it’s a wonderful help to us. We’ll have over 140 does kidding this year and I’m keen to host more students this year as well.”

The Palmers have been using Maremma dogs for herd protection for a number of years and the dogs are certainly worth their weight in gold, particularly during kidding. 

“We’ve used Maremmas for a long time now. We have four dogs on the property at the moment and since we’ve had dogs we’ve not lost a kid to predation from foxes or birds of prey,” Isobel said. 

“We would highly recommend them for herd protection, they do a fantastic job.”

Vision for the future

“We’re very proud of the genetic progress we’ve made within our herd while keeping our focus on producing practical, meat production animals for commercial producers,” Isobel said.

“While I would love to keep doing this, I think to keep the legacy going we need to start grooming a successor to follow on with our work."

“The KIDPLAN program has been an amazing tool for our business and I can only encourage more people to get involved and start monitoring and recording their data.

“The program allows for direct comparisons of an animal’s genetics by stripping away environmental influences such as seasonal conditions or whether the animal was a single or a twin. It means you’re not flying blind as relying only on visual assessments can be extremely misleading, as the sheep industry as already proven.”

To read Isobel and Ian’s first interview with Goats on the Move click here.

For more information about KIDPLAN click here.

To get in touch with Isobel and Ian: tambookie@activ8.net.au