Penny and Florence came to us in June 2008, at the age of 13mths. It was part of our drive towards a self-sufficient lifestyle. Penny is a British Saanen cross and Florence is Toggenberg cross. Both breeds are renowned for their milking qualities.

 

 

Obviously to produce milk they needed to have kids, so we borrowed a friend's Billy, 'Billy St James', who was also a British Saanen. On the 3rd May Penny gave birth to Timmy, and on the 4th May Florence gave birth to Tilly. We let our goats raise the kids naturally. At 3 weeks of age the babies were put in the 'nursery' over night, but returned to their mums first thing in the morning after milking. We only milk once a day, so the babies have plenty for themselves.

Our goats spend their days in their paddock or around the smallholding clearing the verges and trimming the hedges. At night, they like to go in their purpose built house, filled with cosy straw and delicious sweet hay to munch on.