IT IS up to the boer-goat industry to ensure butchers, and consumers can recognise boer goat from rangeland goat.
Slice of the action: Butcher Bob Dewar breaks down a boer goat carcass at the Meat and Livestock Australia field day at Tallarook. Inset: Blair Brice
According to Meat and Livestock Australia, there is a noticeable difference in carcass weight, meat quality and yield between the two.
- AT A GLANCE
- Who: Blair Brice
- What: Goat meat marketing
- Why: Product differentiation
- Where: Tallarook
- Report: TOM MCKENNY
MLA goat meat industry development manager Blair Brice said producers, processors and end-users should be educated about goat meat so they could make such distinctions, rather than rely on carcass identification.
"It's up to industry to ensure they are positioning product correctly," Mr Brice said.
"Ultimately, if they are not, they will be found out and the consumer at the end of the day will be disappointed and ... they will lose business.
"Whether it is physically enforced or whether it is a quality standard, we'd like to see the industry adhere to (it)."
Mr Brice was speaking to chefs, butchers and producers at an MLA-sponsored education day at Seven Hills boer-goat property at Tallarook last month.
He said commercial-standard boer would generally yield about 48-52 per cent carcass weight, while rangeland goat made just 40-42 per cent.
Rangeland goat dominates Australian goat production, accounting for 90 per cent of total production, with most exported.
The remaining rangeland stock is used domestically alongside smaller numbers of boer goat making its way into the supply chain.
Head chef at Richmond's Grand Hotel, Jonathan Knight, said being able to distinguish between the products was critical to producing profitable meals.
"We can't afford to order specific cuts, and the industry is not up to being able to consistently supply specific cuts, so we need to get value from buying a whole carcass," he said.
"Yield is the most important thing when I'm buying a whole animal.
"Most good chefs I know have a nose-to-tail theory, so we keep the better cuts and then use the rest in sauces and stock and the like, which lowers my costs.
"The important thing is the size of the animal and I now know I can go for a heavier goat and not affect quality, as long as it is a commercial boer breed and not bush goat.
"It would help to have better identification as it is a great product and could be the next lamb."
MLA says supply-chain education rather than carcass identification is the key issue.
"It comes back to educating everyone in the supply chain to be aware of what the different types of products are and making sure that everyone understands that if they are dealing with a boer or boer-cross it is very different to a rangeland product," Mr Brice said.
"Realistically, that whole education process needs to be right across the supply chain - on farm with the producers, the processors, distributors through to retail and food services.
"As we work with processors, as we work with chefs and butchers, as we work with producers, it is all about lifting everyone's understanding of the industry, everyone's responsibility of what the potential is, so we work right across the supply chain."
