pest


              introduction.


Hey guys, I'm Preston and I'm maddox. This report will inform you of feral goats . One of the reasons why we are doing this pest is because of this pest eating all our native bush and getting into farmers' land and eating all the livestocks feed.

   Weight size etc/info about pest


Size: Adult male goats in New Zealand stand around 60-80 cm at the shoulder and weigh an average of about 42 kg.

Females are smaller (shoulder height around 60-70 cm) and lighter (average around 30 kg) than males.

Colour: The coat is generally short haired with variable amounts of underfur. The hindquarters of both sexes, and the neck and shoulders of males may be shaggy.

Colour wise, they can be black, white or brown, or any combination of these. All males and some females are bearded as adults.

Horns: In New Zealand both sexes have horns. In females they are slender and curve upwards and backwards, with a clear space between the bases. In males the horns are larger and sweep up and backwards or up and outwards in an open spiral. The horns may touch at the base. The horns are not shed annually like antlers but are retained for the life of the animal.



The habitat of a feral goat

For those who don’t know feral goats live on extremely rocky cliffs, native bush and highland farms. Feral goats are found throughout New Zealand in both the North and South Islands. Herds of goats can be found in kaimai ranges ,Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough and Otago. Goats occupy a wide range of habitat and can be found from sea level to the alpine zone, living in introduced and native grasslands, scrub and forest.

What impact does feral goats have on the NZ environment?

It's not really thought about but pests have a big impact on the environment in NZ and all around the world one of those pests are feral goats also known as the capra hircus. However, feral goats eat all of our native bush such as New Zealand’s native plants, highland country farms and deep forest areas. Herding browsers such as goats cause two-fold damage by eating native plants and by trampling large areas of vegetation and compactable soils.


What are we doing about the impact of feral goats?

So far people have been culling, which is when you kill a certain certain amount of pest/feral goats, in the meantime there is also 1080 drop which in my opinion is extremely bad for the environment. NZ’s 1080 drop is used to extirpate all sorts of animals like feral goats, pigs, stoats, rats and possums. shooting: hunting and farm management is another good salusion to keeping the numbers down.

How much feral goats increased Feral goats are probably the least thought about species. now they occupy about 14% of New Zealand and in 2007 there were about

11000- about half of this on public conservation land. Total population size is unknown but is estimated to be 14/100 of nz which is huge and that is why this report is important.

Conclusion

Overall we all know what we need to know about the feral goat,  maddox and I really appreciate the whole class listening to our presentation and as always goodnight.