Rangeland Riches

A captivating story about survival in the outback. Every year thousands of tourists travel Australia's amazing outback, experiencing the rugged beauty of our unique landscape. Few however, come to know about the extraordinary courage and commitment of the station owners and workers who live a life full of challenges to stay on the land that they love.The aim of this story is to fill the gap for readers who want to know more. Although written in fictional form it is based on true life events and features the daughter of a typically hard working family. She has a vision (and the determination to go with it) that goats may contribute to the saviour of the station. But mother nature throws all her fury at humans and animals alike, as though testing the will and resilience of all in a brutal culling for survival of the fittest only.

HEATHER OSBORN is a Gippsland farmer with a passionate love of animals and the land. From childhood she was enthralled by horses and has spent many years successfully working and breeding competition horses. Ironically it was her involvement with horses that led her to also venture down the path of goat breeding. She was given her first goat, a doe kid, by the renowned cutting horse trainer, the late Max McTaggart. That was in 1977 and from small beginnings, initially with Angoras and then Boer goats, the enterprise quickly became the mainstay of the farming operation.Heather's involvement in the industry has been intense and extensive. As a former chair person of the Victorian Farmer's Federation goat committee and long involved with Meat & Livestock Australia in industry promotion, she established multi-vendor goat sales and industry information seminars. As well there was much behind the scenes work in helping newcomers to not only enter the industry, but also to successfully market their stock. In addition she has a flair for writing and for many years was journalist and editor of the Gippsland Farmer newspaper. She also took care of the Australian content of the international Goat Farmer magazine. This, her first book, was inspired by the fact that tourists and the general population, know little if anything about the massive contribution made by the humble goat, not only to the survival of station owners, but also because it is a significant contributor to our country's economy. It is her hope that the book goes some way towards spreading knowledge about the importance of the goat industry.