Goat meat production field day a boost for producers

The pair run the operation from their farm, Buena Vista, near Collie, and are staunch supporters of the industry.

One way they give back is by hosting and sponsoring a goat meat production field day on their property, and it is growing from strength-to-strength.

This year's field day, the second time it has run, featured a myriad of specialist speakers which drew a large attendance.

"We had approximately 100 people attend this year which is a great turn out," Craig said.

"People came from Longreach and the Ipswich area as well as people from throughout NSW.

"Not only is it good for new people thinking of coming into the industry, but also for established producers.

"It is a great chance to hear from industry specialists as well as network with other producers.

"The development of our operation was based on a lot of trial and error.

"So we began the field day to try and help producers not make the same mistakes we did.

"We want to make the information we take for granted readily available to every producer.

"If we can help in that way, it is a worthwhile event."

On the list of speakers was Meat and Livestock Australia's project manager - sheep and goat productivity, Dr Melanie Smith.

Dr Smith spoke on MLA's investment in the goat industry, goat market insights and also how Kidplan will benefit producers long-term.

Kidplan is following the lead of more established breeds to implement a database of estimated breeding values (EBVs) and specialised indexes to give goat producers useable information on an animal's genes for production purposes.

Dr Jarrod Lees from UNE spoke on the meat eating quality he had been testing and what some of his results were.

Also from UNE, Dr Emma Doyle spoke on goat drenching and worm management trial results.

Trudie Atkinson, NSW Department of Primary Industries provided goat meat production information sources to help producers find any information they may need.

There were also speakers on buck selection and what traits to look for, including a demonstration in the yards, and Craig and Jo gave an overview of how their operation works and how they got to where they are.

The Stewarts plan to have another field day next year.

"As long as we can find relevant speakers we will have another one next year," Jo said.

"Every season seems to bring another challenge and we will look to get the speakers in who are suited to help producers best deal with that."