Monday, August 28, 2006

Goats - Ten kids so far

This morning was freezing and the tenth kid was born at 6 am.
There are two sets of twins so far and all doing well.
I took this picture a few years ago when I was running about 150 angora goats.
Angora goats produce mohair.
Angora rabbits produce angora fibre.
Mohair is a fibre - it's not wool or hair.
It is called the diamond fibre because of its lustre.
I loved the angoras but unfortunately they needed shearing twice a year and at one stage, with the cyclical price of mohair, it was costing me as much to get them shorn as I was getting for the fleece.
I gather now the price is up again - $30 to $50 a kilo for kid fibre - that's how the market goes. (Note: a good quality adult can shear 6 kilos of fibre)
The goats I have now are South African Boer goats which are bred for meat - though I don't eat them, I sell them on for breeding.
I'll have some update pictures of Boer kids later.
Photo: M Muir - Angora kids - Western Australia (c. 1996).

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