The loveliest natured animals that produce a stunning fleece
Angora goats are farmed commercially for their mohair fleece. Mohair is a soft, lustrous and hard-wearing fibre with excellent dyeing properties that can be spun into yarn for use in garments and luxury textiles. It should not be confused with angora wool, which is produced from the coat of rabbits.
Angora goats are lovely animals to work with. Although very confident and cheeky with their inquisitive personalities, they are gentle natured and kind animals. Originating from Turkey they are not designed for the British climate, so to keep them healthy they do take some commitment and care. We find that although they can be labour intensive and demanding with their housing and practical needs, this balances out by how easy they are to work with and the product they produce that rewards us handsomely for the work we put in.
They are a close herd who, once the pecking order is established, stick together and become quite distressed if they get separated. Long after weaning the family groups still remain together. I often go into the paddock and find babies weaned long ago still sitting close to their does and siblings.
Known as the “diamond fibre” due to the shine and strength of the fleece, it grows one inch per month and can be shorn (harvested) twice a year. This fleece is very in demand and we have buyers for this before it is even off their back! With kid fleece selling at up to £17 per kilo and buyers out there who want even the older fleeces and the scraps, this more than pays for their shearing and feed costs.
When we first set up our farm over here in Glastonbury we knew straight away that we wanted some of these goats having first become obsessed with them in New Zealand when some accidentally escaped from a paddock and caught our attention! Having spent hours researching the qualities of the fibre and what to do with it, once the decision was made it was simply a question of “how do we get hold of these amazing animals”?
We tracked down a herd in the Welsh valleys and made the journey to choose our start up group. A fun day out towing a borrowed trailer through the valleys with no phone reception, we eventually found Tanya Rogers from the Elan herd. They made us feel so welcome eating Welsh cake and chatting all things goat! Off we headed back to Glastonbury with our six new females in tow.
With 11 breeding females, we now run a small herd of our own and are looking forward to some Spring 2018 kids from our Buck Linden Ashley, who has some outstanding champion, international genetics.
We invest a lot of time and energy into their management and care, following a strict husbandry schedule, of which all records can be provided. Our Angoras all have excellent breeding lines, top class bucks used for our breeding programme, excellent fleeces and lovely temperaments because of the hours we have invested in them. We are an ethical breeder who knows all of our goats by name. They are not overbred and are given the best of care at all times.
All of the goats we sell all are very friendly, well-handled and are used to being hand fed.
Prices start at £100 but please contact us for further details.
We are licensed to transport and are able to deliver if necessary, with additional charges for mileage. We would not be able to deliver beyond 100 miles and delivery would have to be for a minimum of three.
All of our female angora goats and breeding males are registered with the British Angora Goat Society (BAGS). They are fully vaccinated and wormed, with a full breeding and medical history available.
BAGS registration and transfer fees apply to females and breeding males.
