Marcus, Peggy, and Shannan Jessen farm around 2,000 dairy goats at their property in Clifton in Southern Queensland.Despite its lack of industry representation, the dairy goat industry in Australia remains strong with Australian genetics sought after.Farmers still have confidence in the industry's future as farmers create products themselves.After being dropped by the major milk processor they were supplying, Shannan and Marcus Jessen were facing an uncertain future.
They now supply a cheese and yoghurt manufacturer and have created their own line of freeze-dried raw milk powder. But despite its long history, the industry never organised and it has been facing an uphill battle for recognition."There's nothing really for dairy goats and there are quite a lot of dairy goats in Australia," Ms Jessen said.
According to the report, the national commercial milking herd is estimated to be more than 46,000 goats producing more than 16.8 million litres of milk annually.