A North Queensland seven-year-old has become and internet sensation after appearing on the Australian television show Little Big Shots.
Torino Brodie from Centauri Station, 25 kilometres west of Charters Towers, graced the stage to share his passion for dairy goats.
Interacting with television host Shane Jacobson, Torino won over the crowd with his cheeky smile, sense of humour and knowledge of milking goats.
Initially growing up on a cattle property, Torino was always going to be a country boy but he found his passion for goats when his family were forced to diversify their enterprise due to the drought.
Parents Wayne and Jenny Brodie downsized their cattle operations and later expanded their goat herd.
“With only 100 head of Brahman cross cattle left, we find goats are a bit easier hand feeding in the drought,” Jenny said.
“Once you get the goats fat they tend to hold their condition a bit better and also they tend to eat other foliage to survive tough conditions.”
Despite drought conditions, Torino is fully devoted to his dairy goat stud, GotItAllGoats, and continues to grow his knowledge and experience in the industry.
Specialising in Toggenburg and Australian All Browns, Torino owns a stud of 20 dairy goats (in addition to his mums 80 goats) which he cares for, breeds, displays at Queensland shows and sells through live exports.
“I love having goats because they will love you forever, no matter what,” he said.
“They are your best friends and they are fun to be around.
“I come home from school, feed, water and milk the goats and then when a show is coming up I trim and groom them and show them in the ring.”
Torino’s parents were surprised when he took such a keen interest in the dairy goats.
“In the school holidays Torino will stay up to all hours of the night cleaning the goats stalls and making sure they are happy and healthy before going to bed,” Jenny said.
“Torino tracks his stud’s genetics and chooses which buck he will put over which doe. Even more incredible for a seven year old is that he has learnt to trait breed by eye.
“When it comes to showing, he chooses which ones we take to the competition. He has a very keen eye and that is easily why he continues to place at local and state shows.”
Torino has been lucky enough to also secure some live export shipments.
“They are shipped out at six months weighing a minimum of 40 to 60 kilograms,” Jenny said.
“We have exporters coming to us because they know our goats are pure, stud and milk tested dairy goats. So the buyer can be assured when the does arrive over there, they will improve the buyers herd because they have proven records of their butter fat and capacity of milk per day.
“We use to export a few out of Darwin but we mostly send them south now to Brisbane, returning roughly $500. Torino then puts this money back into buying more goats for his growing stud.”
Torino does not sell the milk as a byproduct, instead he puts it back into the kids allowing maximum growth in a short time, to allow a fast turn over.