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Some
of Our Foundation Animals
We
live on a 600 acre dairy farm (cows), on the outskirts of
CANUNGRA in Queensland. I have been here since 1993. We started
off with a handful of small, pet, feral & cashmere goats.
They came from all sorts of places, many were rescues that
were later re-homed. I
had collected a small handful of really little cashmere goats
and had kept the odd small feral that was brought in. These
original animals were the basis of many of the animals that
we have today.
Miniature
Goats
One day we had a lady visit to buy some of our goats.
She caught sight of "Cutie",
in with the cashmere girls and asked me if she was a
dwarf goat from America. I explained where she had come
from and then we chatted about the lady's visit to America
and about the dwarf milking goats over there.
After she had left, I just couldn't put it out of my
mind and I believe that this is when I decided that
I would try to breed "miniature" goats right
here in Australia and so the adventure began. |
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We
have bred and acquired many little animals over the years.
Our goal is to have a herd of top quality adult animals (3yrs+),
under 21 inches high (53.3cm). It was trial and error in the
beginning. Matching the right buck with the right doe has
been very hard. We have been able to bring in the beautiful
types using larger "typey" bucks over smaller feral
does, we just had to work out what crosses went well when
paired back to each other. We've managed to reduce the "chance
of going overheight" from 1 in 3 when using crossbreds
and animals with unknown backgrounds, to around 1 in 8 using
small B Grade animals that we have bred ourselves. Our Nuwby
percentage is still rather high, but that is to be expected
when using bucks with large parents in their backgrounds.
We
were lucky enough to find Patona Park Wally, (or "King
Wally" as he is now presented by the stud that owns him),
a medium sized crossbred particoloured buck (24.6",4yrs).
We paired him to a handful of carefully selected females and
bred some flash little particoloured animals. Most of the
bucks that we produced by "Wally" were wethered,
only a very small handful of bucks, out of our smallest does
(or those with small backgrounds) were raised. Those boys
have also left their mark on the Stud's lucky enough to have
had them.
I
have always loved the British Alpine markings and Patona Park
Pilot (24", 4yrs), is responsible for some of my very
best swiss marked does. This stunning buck was purchased as
a newborn, with mum a little feral, who matured just over
20" (4yrs). Pilot gave us some of the most striking,
tiny, swiss marked does that have now given us youngsters
of their own.
Patona
Park Oldspice (24",4yrs), one of my husbands favourites,
was another wonderful buck who has left his mark on
our stud. He was a stunning, thick bodied, boer cross
boy that we were lucky enough to have born about four
months after picking up his mother who, when bought
at 6 months old, was still suckling on her own mother!
We did struggle to perfect the pixie ears as Oldspice
had shorter Nuwby ears, giving most of his does little
"puppy dog" ears with the exception of these
two and a couple of their sisters. |
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And
I must not forget Patona Park Gizmo,(25",5yrs) a lovely
hairy, scary, black pinto fellow with the most remarkable
set of horns I think I have ever seen, who is responsible
for some of our beautiful Shelties.
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His
mother was such a kind little doe having her last set
of twins at a ripe old age of 18yrs. She had a very
unusual short but thick, crimped coat probably a result
of her angora background.
Although I am not a great fan of the angora, I have
used this breed, over the years, to shorten the body
and make our minis more compact creating a more balanced
animal.
I cross the angora lines with my cashmere minis in an
effort to "breed out" some of the hair. It
is all about balance and getting the right amount of
each breed into the mix. |
"Wally"
and "Pilot" had given us colour, "Gizmo"
gave us the full thick coat and compact body, "Oldspice"
had given us the rounder "meatier" body and beautiful
conformation that we wanted for our little "pet goats".
We found over the many breeding's that were done, that all
four boys maintained the heights rather than reduced them,
that is, they produced smaller offspring when paired to smaller
does and larger ones when paired to larger does, (as most
bucks, to date, do). We have had quite a few good quality
bucks over the years, but these guys are the ones that have
left the biggest impression on our stud.
We
pair our animals with the aim being to develop animals
with beautiful conformation, that are in proportion,
in miniature size. We then breed these small “typey”
animals to each other (up the grades) fixing the height
and type through each additional generation in the hope
of producing an animal that we are happy to call a purebred.
We will then use these animals with our Grade Stock
in an effort to increase our miniature goat numbers
while continuing to maintain our smaller heights.
I am very pleased with the animals that we are now producing
and I believe that the many years of selective experimental
breeding we have done is starting to pay off, with some
really exquisit animals now being produced.
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Even
though I live on a large productive dairy farm, I still consider
myself to be a "Hobby Farmer" keeping a manageable
number of "pet goats" as a hobby, rather than keeping
more and having them as a business. I think a lot of the fun
would be lost for me, when day to day care of a larger herd,
became a full time job. I realise that the breed can only
develop as fast as the breeders are producing animals. With
most herds being quite small, this will be a very slow process.
I am very confident though, that the breed will continue to
go forward. Many of the breeders I am lucky enough to have
the pleasure of working with, are also very selective with
what they use and with the selection of offspring that they
keep for their breeding programs. This, in my opinion, can
only be of benefit to the breed.
I
would like to say that being able to work so closely with
other reputable Studs has been great. It is always nice to
be able to share the good times and help each other through
the bad times. It is always good to be able to get someone
else’s perspective on things too.
Miniature goats have become a big part of my life and I am
lucky to have a beautiful family and wonderful friends to
share the fun with too!
Sue Ludwig
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