Quiet has become the key word at Murchison House Station, where a groundbreaking approach to managing feral goats is transforming operations. Traditionally, mustering the thousands of goats that roam the station involved the roar of helicopters and motorbikes, creating a high-stress environment for both animals and workers. Now, a new method allows these pests to be herded at a walking pace, significantly reducing stress and costs.
Situated 570 kilometers north of Perth, Murchison House Station features a 9-kilometer fence that quietly weaves through the rock and red dirt landscape, effectively revolutionizing livestock management. “Effectively what we have built is a total grazing-management trapyard,” said Calum Carruth, owner of Murchison House. This innovative system combines traditional yard trapping with modern technology, allowing operations to be managed remotely.
Remote Management and Cost Efficiency
While the concept of using yards to trap animals is not new among pastoralists, the Carruths have taken it a step further by incorporating remote technology. The trapyard’s 10 entry gates can be closed via smartphone from 20 kilometers away, and seven water tanks equipped with sensors alert the team when large numbers of goats are drinking. “When the gates are closed and the goats are trapped, they are herded to a holding yard, loaded onto a truck, and taken to market,” explained Mr. Carruth.
This method not only enhances cost efficiency but also ensures the safety of staff and animals. “It’s low-stress stock handling,” Mr. Carruth added, emphasizing the benefits of this innovative approach.
The Value and Challenge of Feral Goats
For over 30 years, Calum and Belinda Carruth have owned Murchison House, balancing a tourism business with goat and cattle sales. The station is uniquely bordered by the Murchison River, Kalbarri National Park, and the Indian Ocean. The strategic placement of the trapyard captures goats descending from coastal fringes and the national park in search of water during summer.
Feral goats, while considered a destructive pest in Western Australia, are also valuable livestock. Goat meat is highly sought after in Asia, the Middle East, and increasingly in the United States. Despite annual sales, the Carruths acknowledge the improbability of eradicating goats entirely from the landscape. “We have got the goat numbers down to something we think is sustainable, environmentally, ecologically, and hopefully economically,” Mr. Carruth stated.
Protecting the Pillawarra Land System
The inspiration for the trapyard emerged from the need to protect the fragile Pillawarra land system, a unique area of the station containing prehistoric marine sediments. Recognized for its fossil, geological, and historical significance, the Pillawarra is characterized by a giant limestone escarpment prone to erosion.
“It’s a giant limestone escarpment that runs up the backbone of Murchison House station for about 70 kilometers,” Mr. Carruth explained. “The goats would come for the water and wouldn’t leave.” When the Carruths purchased the station, their first priority was a destocking program to address the overpopulation of goats, sheep, and cattle.
“There were about 5,000 head of sheep, 2,000 head of cattle, and maybe 20,000 goats,” Mr. Carruth recalled.
To protect the Pillawarra, they began constructing a 2,500-hectare exclusion paddock and successfully secured government funding to build the trapyard alongside it.
Integrating New Technology
At the heart of the trapyard’s operation is an extensive telemetry network. Tiny solar-powered antennas receive signals from a meshing network, triggering actions such as closing the trap yard gates. The Carruths collaborated with Annie Brox and her team from Origo.ag to design and build this sophisticated system.
“At the homestead, there is an internet connection, so signals go from this private meshing network to a gateway between the private network and the internet,” explained Mr. Carruth. The Carruths believe their trapyard concept could be adapted to manage other feral populations in remote areas of Australia, such as wild pigs or camels.
“The fences obviously would need to be much more robust and therefore more expensive, but electric fences will hold a lot of those animals pretty well,” Mr. Carruth noted.
The Carruths plan to expand the trapyard, with aspirations to eventually replace most traditional motor-based mustering on the station. “Since Belinda and I have been here, all we’ve ever wanted to do is leave it better than we’ve found it,” Mr. Carruth concluded.
