My life, on line!
My Angora goats.
Meet Billy!
05 years
by Amy
in My Angora goats.
Yesterday my new Bucks arrived! They come from Dave Brown’s Angora/mohair breed in Waipu, to read more about Dave’s goats please follow the links below…
https://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/waipupro.html
https://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/rural-news/rural-management/mohair-growth-no-woolly-thinking
I brought two bucks, one has had the heaviest fleece in New Zealand for several years running, he is a bit older but he has plenty of life in him yet, he was also one of a set of triplets when he was born which is exciting because one of my goals is to increase the fertility and kidding rate in my flock.
The other buck has excellent body weight, I am excited to have his breeding in the flock because when I sell wether goats to the works in the future I should get good prices for them because of their kill weight. He also has a very good, fine fleece which will be helpful to upgrade my fiber.
Below is a picture of my new bucks…the older one is the biggest, do you have any suggestions for names? (Edit: I have decided to call the biggest one Ronald and the smaller buck “Halt”).
My new Angora bucks.
Goats! 19.01.2020
05 years
by Amy
in My Angora goats.
On the 14th, 15th and 16th of January we shore sheep, I rousey in the shed. This means that I sweep all the wool away from the shearers and keep the board tidy. It’s hard, hot work. Sometimes it can be boring. Mum cooks for everyone, my favorite thing is when she makes tiny, little pizzas, they are yum!
Sheep in the yards.
This time when we finished the sheep we got our goats in, our goats are angora, they grow special fiber which we sell.
Me and Uncle John mustering the goats.
We shore the kid goats, their fiber makes us the most money because it is really fine, it is used to make expensive suits and other garments. We had 38 kid goats to shear. After we had shorn them mum helped me draft out the big weather (boys with no”noise”) goats and then the oldest nanny goats.
Some of our weather goats.
“Eddie” A very sneaky goat.
On Sunday the 19th we loaded 102 goats onto the truck to go to the meat works. It was sad to see them go but at the same time it was a bit exciting! I am taking over from mum at farming the goats, we are moving them to the farm where we are building our house and I will need the money they make to build a shed, yards and fences so I can take care of them there.
117 Nanny and kid goats were left, these will make my new flock. I am also going to be buying two new billy goats from Waipu, it is exciting to think that soon I really will be a goat farmer!