The odd sight was seen by southbound motorists in Albury over multiple days before being removed earlier this month.

Albury traffic sign company owner Murray King was unimpressed, saying he had been told it may have resulted from the mobile sign unit being in a goat-prone area.

"These signs are used for warning of animals and sometimes they have a pictorial display of what to look out for and it was mentioned to me it was on the road to Broken Hill," Mr King said.

Transport for NSW distanced itself from the display which prompted a suggestion it was a comment on the Hume Freeway being a goat track.

"The image of the goat has no direct meaning and is not representative of an error message," a spokesperson said.

"This particular image was not displayed by Transport for NSW and is one of many random images pre-built into the machines, which are owned by a sub-contractor."

Mr King said a company based beyond the Border was responsible for the sign and the image would not have lingered as long if a local firm provided the machine.

"This is a prime example of using local resources and then where there is an issue that can be looked at and the display is the wrong thing that can be replaced quickly," he said.

Mr King said he had brought the matter to the attention of member for Albury Justin Clancy.

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"I raised it on the issue of quality control," he said.

"That sign sat out there for three or four days, it mocked the whole NSW intention of warning people about COVID.

"I didn't leave the police in a good light, maybe they were the goats.

"It showed anything the state government does should be by a local provider, not by the top end of town.

"There are signs at Thurgoona, at the Davey Road overpass, and they were sourced out of Canberra and there's other stuff that comes out of Sydney."

Mr Clancy said the government had provision for nearby suppliers in its policies.

"I'd certainly encourage local procurement but at the same time understand the government has to strike a balance with the value for the taxpayers' dollar," he said.

Small Business Minister Damien Tudehope said last year the NSW Small Business Commission had a four-year program to support local businesses to submit tenders for government contracts.

Asked about what he thought of a goat's head appearing and if it undercut COVID messaging, the Liberal MP was not expansive.

"I don't have anything there to add," Mr Clancy said.

"Obviously it happened, I would prefer that message did not go up but it's occurred."