Daytona's commercial meat goats debut at Springsure Show

Mr O'Brien and his family farm up to 1000 meat boer goats on his property called Daytona.

His passion for goats began when he saw their grazing and pasture management potential.

"Goats are terrific. They're easy to handle and when things get dry, they're a lot easier to feed and look after, compared to cattle," Mr O'Brien said.

"My interest into goats began when I saw how many Brigalow suckers they'd eat and how they'd clear timber stubble."

Starting off as a cattle producer, the O'Briens still graze up to 100 breeders.

Tony remembers a time when graziers found it hard to purchase boer goats in Queensland.

"I started breeding goats many years ago, when you couldn't buy them," he said.

"I remember my first purchase of goats and I got a body truckload of little nannys from the Charleville meat works in the early eighties.

"Back then, you could only buy the rangeland goats, that were found in national parks or in the wild.

"Charleville meat works would often let you buy the rejects, which were underweight for slaughter."

Forty years later, Mr O'Brien said the commerical meat goat market has climbed significantly and demand for quality boer goats has risen.

"They're worth money for starters. There is getting a fair bit of quality into the goat market now, but most of it is in little studs or hobby farms," he said.

Daytona recently showcased 13 of their meat boer goats at Australia's first open meat goat show in Springsure last weekend.

One of Tony's younger bucks called Daytona 34, took out reserve junior champion standard buck.

Mr O'Brien said the show was a great experience.

"This is my first time that I have ever taken goats to a show and it was certainly a credit to the organisers," he said.

"It was an eye opening experience for me and it was great to compare my boer goats to other stock."

Tony says he's on a mission to produce a quality buck to go with rangeland nannys.