Goats of gold: Australia’s feral goat problem has become a $235m export trade

Goat depots, like Nick Deshon’s in Lightning Ridge, allow feral goats to be collected and taken to abattoirs, bypassing Australia’s livestock tracing system and tagging requirements. Photograph: Mandy McKeesick/The Guardian

On a sprawling property in outback Australia, Nick Deshon and his team are drafting rangeland goats. The goats are a motley, multicoloured lot; some have beards, others sport mohawks or woolly mops, long hair or short. There are curved horns, tufty tails and soft eyes.

But this motley crew – born wild then rounded up – has helped make Australia the largest exporter of goat meat in the world.