The Toggenburgs are what we always dreamed our whole herd would be — serene, beautiful, intelligent and friendly. We had hoped to build an entire herd of them but we quickly realised that finding certified organic goats of a specific breed was going to really limit our ability to grow and provide enough milk.
The Saanens are the quiet professionals. Aloof, majestic, never any trouble. The real workhorses of the dairy goat world — our highest yielders and utterly uninterested in drama. If it wasn't for the amount of milk in our churns, you would barely know they were there!
The British Alpines are, to put it kindly, the troublemakers. Beautiful, bold, and convinced that rules do not apply to them. The Alpine gene is strong in our herd thanks to our first billy, Gunter. They exhaust us. If we ever have escapee goats, its an Alp. A few weeks ago we realised we were going through far too much feed in the parlour. It turns out the Alpines had worked out how to pull the levers to let down a bigger ration. As quiet and content as the Saanens are, the Alpines are loud, naughty and always pushing boundaries.
The Nubians were never really part of the plan — Cathy, our first Nubian, arrived as a pregnant teen with a complicated history- she was originally named Crazy but has definitely mellowed and her and her daughter, Along, are firm herd favourites. They produce wonderfully rich, creamy milk with higher butterfat, and that richness adds something special to the blend. We have now bred more Nubians in to the herd for a creamier milk.
And then there are the Royal Golden Guernseys — the absolute princesses of the herd. Undeniably beautiful, but alas not blessed with brains. Every dry period they forget the entire milking routine from scratch, stand and stare at us like they don't understand and need gently reminding of the routine. Every single time. This works to our advantage however. They never ever escape and they are the only breed that will stay out in the rain by choice. We are not sure if its because they don't care or they just haven't worked out how to get back to the shed by themselves.
This mixture of breeds has given our milk a distinct advantage — each one brings something different to the milk, and together they produce something none of them could alone. Over the next few weeks we will be sharing the various breeds we have on our socials.
