Heart of the Nation: Broken Hill 2880

HIDING from goats is hard work.

Heart

MUSTERING goats in the rough hill country of the Barrier Range is hard yakka at the best of times, but on days when it hits 45 degrees, even a ditch full of muddy water starts to look inviting to John Blore. "It's not exactly Mount Franklin, but it works," he laughs.

The 33-year-old grew up on this 50,000ha station outside Broken Hill and he still helps his dad Phil run the place. Most of it is semi-arid plains country, where they have merino sheep and beef cattle, but a small section is taken up by the steep, rocky Barrier Range. This bit of the property was long dismissed as unproductive: the only animals that grazed there were masses of feral goats. It was good for nothing.

Or so they thought until five years ago, when John got wise to the export market for goat meat. A few neighbours were trapping feral goats and getting $30 a head for them - a lifeline during the drought. So he learned the technique too. It's pure Wile E. Coyote (he puts a steel-mesh enclosure with a spring-loaded door around a waterhole, then hides 100m away with a long pull-wire in his hand - and when the goats go in for a drink, BAM!) but it works: in the four days before this photo was taken, he caught 500. "When the door shuts there's a big smile on your face because you can see the dollars," he says. It's the only income he takes from the station. He and his wife are bringing up three kids on it, while also saving to take over the place when his dad's ready to retire.

He says he can't wait for that. While his only sibling, an older sister, went on to a high-flying banking career in Melbourne, John flunked uni before coming back to the bush. He's full of ideas about how to run the station when he takes over the reins. In the meantime, his work with the goats is testament to his resourcefulness and his sound commercial sense. "We have made a whole income stream out of what was once considered a pest," he says. "We've diversified our income. This is now a sheep, cattle and goat property."