We're getting goats! Jen mentioned last week that she had 3 crappy goats she wanted to get rid of, and it looks like they're coming to live with us at Ulinawi. It turns out they're only crappy from a fiber perspective; there are 2 angoras and a cashmere, and the angora's have a really low quality of fiber. That combined with their inability to get along with the other animals on her farm make it totally not worth it for her to keep them. Ideally they'd be placed somewhere where their purpose was brush-clearing rather than making mohair, and where they wouldn't be expected to get along with other animals. We currently don't have any other animals, and every time we try to figure out what to do about "the bowl" (~5 acres of land we'd like to eventually farm), it's pretty clear the first step is putting goats out there to clear it before we can either plant it or put other animals on it. For the last year folks have been telling us we need to put goats out there, and we've been putting it off. Not anymore!
Notice I only said the angora's were crappy? Apparently the cashmere has really nice fiber. I have no intention of doing anything about that for awhile, but its nice to know that I could maybe start stockpiling some cashmere in case I ever decide to learn how to spin...
If you click here and scroll about halfway down the page to where it says "Added to the herd 2/18/07" you cans see pics of Copper, Gold, and Pearl. Copper is the wethered cashmere, Gold is the wethered angora, and Pearl is the angora doe. Wethered is another word for castrated, so no breeding for us! No milk either, at least not this year.
I'm so excited about this its kind of ridiculous... My bedtime reading is suddenly about animal husbandry and rotational grazing!
that's totally cool. what happens when you leave town?
Posted by: Kevin Jones | January 16, 2008 at 11:28 PM