HISTORIA DE LA PUNCIÓN LUMBAR 34

Proponents of the resource paradigm include producers, goat breeders, export abattoirs, saleyard managers, goat depot owners and the goat industry represented by the GICA and

MLA. In the Western Division, producers constitute the vast majority of resource stakeholders. Institutional arrangements in the Western Division under this paradigm are based on animal agriculture and extensive pastoralism, including different management methods employed to harvest wild goats, in addition to standard husbandry guidelines.

Proponents of this paradigm consider that the vast herd of goats that run freely in the rangelands and are available to everyone for harvesting are important for pastoral communities living in the Western Division. For these people, goats are livestock that happen to be running wild, rather than pests or feral animals. They argue that goats should not be classified as pests, given their significant commercial value:

I never call them a pest. I used to always call them rangeland goats; goats running across the rangelands. Unmanaged is probably what I would call them; unmanaged rangeland goats. (P12, processor)

We used to call them feral, but now they’re called rangeland, and it’s mainly for marketing reasons … people used to shoot them rather than capture them. But now they’re worth $5.40, people are actually catching them and sending them off to market, which is good. It’s a resource that’s worth money (P1, producer)

For the resource proponents, the problem with goats is not in the highly stigmatised animal itself but rather, in the lack of proper management:

Unmanaged bush goats can result in overgrazing, degradation of vegetation, reduced groundcover, the onset of erosion and competition with native animals for food and shelter—as can any unmanaged herbivore. Managed goats are a valuable resource, assisting in environmental management (e.g., woody weed suppression) and providing an additional option for grazing and farming enterprises … Management is the key to converting an environmental risk into a reliable profitable component of sustainable landscapes—particularly those in semi-arid areas and those susceptible to drought where other introduced livestock do not survive as well as rangeland goats. (MLA, 2013)

Notably, some proponents of the pest paradigm share the same view on the importance of management, as one of my research participants indicated:

I think goats have got a pretty bad rap over the years, in terms of being classified as a pest and then linked with those threatened species type outcomes. But certainly, from my own experience, I’ve seen producers managing goats and managing while they’re also doing rangeland restoration. It’s not so much the goat; it’s more about good management practices, meaning being aware of how you need to respond to adjust stocking rate. Some of the well-managed country is where people are managing goats. Of course, there’s also areas where people

aren’t doing the best job with management, but that can be with any species. (P16, conservationist/government)

This remark from a conservationist indicates there is recognition among the pest proponents of the role that environmentally aware producers can play in the rangelands. For these conservationists, land degradation by goats and pastoralism in general is not only a threat to biodiversity, it also threatens the future of pastoralism in the rangelands altogether (Abel et al., 2002). However, while most conservationists insist on better stewardship of the land by pastoralists, others demand complete destocking and a return to livestock-free condition, a demand that is not achievable (Ludwig et al., 1997). For this group, even sheep are considered pests.

The following quotation summarises the opposition of the goats-as-a-resource advocates to the pest proponents:

The image of unmanaged goats devastating natural rangeland ecosystems, their ‘feral’ tag and an emphasis on pest control or local eradication are challenges to the ongoing development of rangeland goat production enterprises … [the feral tag] belies the fact that goats have been a major contributor to many drought- affected enterprises—maintaining condition and generating cash flow while sheep were failing—without undue impact on the environment. (MLA, 2013)

The goat has indeed helped many producers survive the harsh droughts in the rangelands (see Chapter 6). Given goats’ indispensable value to pastoralists, pastoralists continue to prioritise their livelihood over conservation issues. It is in their best interest to maintain a healthy population of wild goats in the rangelands, as a reserve for times of need. In fact, they often release underweight animals back into the wild to maintain this population:

We don’t take them all, we are very selective on what we remove, mainly billies and old nannies and leave the younger goats, especially the younger nannies. (P21, pastoralist)

Other producers selectively muster animals, keeping a reserve in the wild:

Quite often we don’t deliberately return them to the wild, more often than not while we’re mustering, we’ll drop pregnant nannies or nannies with small kids off as the muster progresses, because they’re generally the weakest and the slowest. What we tend to do is concentrate on the heavier saleable type animals. And it’s just an easy paddock way of drafting as you’re heading towards the yard. (P18, producer)

These practices might in fact lead to exacerbation of land degradation of the rangelands, especially given regulations to control goat numbers have so far been ineffective.

Rangeland goats supply a growing goat meat industry that has successfully put Australia in a leading position among global goat meat exporters (MLA, 2013). Most exports go the US (around 61 per cent) probably because, like Australia, the US is a multicultural nation that needs to meet the demands of ethnic groups who culturally consume goat meat by choice. In recent years, goats have attracted increasing media coverage. Prices reached record-high levels in 2016, and goat harvesting became suddenly appealing as a source of considerably high income:

Goats have turned to gold—a B-Double load of goats at the moment is worth about $100,000. Just 20 years ago goats were worth nothing. As of this week, goat carcasses hit a $7.50/kg high, averaging $6.50/kg. The increase in goat meat prices has been dramatic. In January 2015, the monthly average was $3.70 (12.1–16kg carcass weight), Jan 2016—$5, Jan 2017—$6. (Ellicot, 2017)

This quotation highlights the change in goat prices over the last two decades, coupled with a continuously increasing demand for Australian goat meat from major importers. This will be discussed in detail in Chapters 5 and 6.

4.3

Summary

This chapter introduced the pest and resource paradigms that govern the goat system. For pest proponents, conservation of native flora and fauna, as well as heritage and Aboriginal sites, is the highest priority. This is why they aim at localised eradication of goats in protected areas. This is challenged by the ubiquitous presence of goats in the rangelands and their high mobility across the landscape from adjacent pastoral areas where they are valued as a resource. The resource proponents view goats as a livestock running wild and a valuable source of income in times of need. Therefore, conflict between the two paradigms is clear, and management has so far been one-sided. The next three chapters will expand on describing the impact of each of these paradigms on the states of people, institutions and ecosystems.