THE mandatory tagging of goats for identification purposes could "cause the demise" of the rangeland goat industry, according to Goat Industry Council of Australia councillor Katie Davies, Broken Hill.
She said 95 per cent of rangeland goats were sent to export, and tagging them prior "makes no sense".
"The animal is traceable through the national vendor declaration back to their property of capture, so putting a tag in their ear wouldn't serve any purpose because that animal is travelling to a terminus," Ms Davies said.
"Any investment needs to have a good financial outcome but radio frequency identification tags won't do that."
Tagging goats would also put producers in unnecessary danger, she said.
"The manual handling of a rangeland animal is dangerous. You physically can't tag them in a safe way, especially not the billy goats."
She said capturing and selling rangeland goats has helped many farmers in western NSW to survive the drought.
Jessie Davies
Journalist for The Land.
Journalist for The Land.
