On the goat muster we helped on at Ravendale (Mutawinji) the goats were numerous, and small. Drafting out the Billies and you would have liveweight animals typically around 35-40kg max, averaging 30kg probably. Liveweight to cold hook weight factor, divide by two for a good estimate.
In WA in areas where goat populations were a lot lower (small mobs, big ranges), the average billy size was a LOT bigger. They’d stand out on the plain, easy to spot.
Same here, big numbers, smaller goats. Normal story.
I think it’s wonderful that goat is starting to show some promise as a sustainable resource because it’s long overdue. Goats were a lifesaver for pastoralists in the drought. Now that it’s raining so much over your way it will be interesting to see what their numbers do, and how this affects the schedule. There is talk here that the demand will remain high and long may that continue.
Here it’s much harder to muster them because of the terrain, and the standard of fencing required to keep them from busting through into the native is far more expensive than standard eight wire sheep fence that’s a bit tatty. Sheep don’t like the native.