Bookara Goat Dairy

Mark and Cate Weston and the great team behind Bookara Goat Dairy, 40km south of Geraldton. Mark runs the farm full time while also attending farmers markets, and Cate is a community mental health nurse, as well as raising their three boys and working on the farm.

Their dairy goats have come to the farm from smaller mobs in and around the south west of Western Australia. The alpine breeds predominate, Saanen, Toggenburg and British Alpine, as these breeds convert feed into high quality milk efficiently for most of the year. These particular goat breeds have a body type that is suited to a long healthy life on the farm.

They also keep two Alpacas as guardians of the goats.The goats are grazed on pasture, fed barley straw, multi species grain and hay (a mixed crop of barley, vetch, oats and lupins) grown by a regenerative farmer from Carnamah. They graze on black wattle and saltbush, which they need for fibre and some poorer quality grass species that provide bulk roughage needed for microbe habitat in the gut. Soaked lupins also provide protein and energy for the goat’s rumen (gut flora).

The goats graze on pasture year round and are rotated to ensure ground cover is retained and the wattle and saltbush are managed and not over grazed.

Mark believes one of the main principles of regenerative agriculture is to do more with less. For example, using nitrogen fixing plants in his pasture to provide a nitrogen source. Mark believes that working with a mixed farming system can give you a secondary source of income by using grazing animals in a cropping system. Their goats are also grazed on neighbouring properties to help neighbours control some weeds that are toxic to sheep and cattle but not goats.

Mark and Cate are passionate about producing the best cheese from their goats. Their cheese is hand made on the farm. They use fresh milk from their own goats and add the finest cultures, some Western Australian salt and lots of tender loving care. The results are natural wholesome foods, rich in flavour and goodness.

Here's the full range of Bookara dairy available online