The Goat (Capra hircus) was one of the first animals to be domesticated, eight to ten thousand years ago. Most archaeological work indicates that the earliest attempts at domestication were in dry hills surrounding the Mediterranean basin.
The ability of goats to utilise the coarse browse of such mountainous areas made them suitable for domestication in preference to sheep. With large-scale domestication of goats throughout the world, it was only a matter of time before goats escaped and established feral goat herds in the wilds of most continents.
Overgrazing by goats has caused severe environmental damage throughout the world. Feral goats are declared animals under the Agriculture and Related Resources Protection Act 1976 throughout Western Australia.
Introduction and Spread:
Goats arrived in Australia with the first fleet. They were introduced to many areas by early settlers and spread further by miners and railway gangs who used them as a source of milk and meat. Goats were introduced into Western Australia in the early colonial era.
They were kept for a mohair industry and to provide milk, butter and meat. They were also used for light haulage and even goat racing.. In 1870, 50 goats were taken to Shark Bay. By 1894 there were 4,500 goats in Western Australia and by 1905 they were reported throughout all districts of the State.
Large herds grazed on sheep and cattle stations; these were dispersed when the mohair industry did not develop as had been hoped. Breeding groups escaped and formed feral herds on many stations.
Feral goats were declared vermin in the Upper Gascoyne district in 1928, at Marble Bar and Port Hedland the following year and Mullewa and Meekatharra in 1954. Feral goats are now declared animals over the whole State.
Distribution:
Today there are herds of feral goats in most pastoral areas of the State. The largest populations are found in the Shires of Shark bay, Carnarvon, Murchison, Yalgoo and Northampton. Mobs are also found in other districts including the Upper Gascoyne, Meekatharra and Mt Magnet as well as the Pilbara and Ashburton regions and the Eastern Goldfields.
Isolated populations of feral goats also occur in the higher rainfall areas of the south-west of the State where patches of scrub and forest provide protection from human control and make management difficult.
Biology:
Goats have a gestation period of around 150 days and often bear twins. In periods of favourable climatic conditions and plentiful food, breeding may occur twice in one year. A female goat is capable of breeding at the age of six to seven months. Goats can be quite selective in their grazing habits preferring shrubs to grasses and herbs.
Significance:
Where goat numbers have become unmanageable their appetite and grazing habits have caused serious damage. They destroy vegetation and disturb the balance of plant species. The animals can completely strip the leaves and bark from shrubs.
Valuable pasture species including saltbush from soft spinifex often fail to recover from such heavy grazing. These plants are then replaced by annuals and less valuable perennial species. In western Australia feral goats browse on mulga which provides a drought reserve for sheep during summer.
Overgrazing may also lead to massive soil erosion permanently reducing the carrying capacity of the rangeland. Disturbance by the sharp hooves of goats and the characteristic pawing of the ground, by males, leaves the soil open to erosion by wind and rain.
In addition to their impact on the landscape, feral goats compete with native animals and domestic stock for shelter, water and food. Feral goats are susceptible to several exotic livestock diseases including foot and mouth disease, rabies and rinderpest. They would act as a reservoir of infection if the diseases reached Australia.
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