New Fiber... On The Hoof!

My new herd sire... hard to believe this cute little guy will soon be a stinky billy goat!

 They’re here!

A truck and livestock trailer that had travelled a long long way rolled into my driveway today and we scooped up four little fiber babies. They are Pygora goats, six months in age, from Hawks Mountain Farm in Oregon. Pygora goats are a breed that combines the fiber length of Angora goats with the downy undercoat, stature, and temperment of Pygmy goats.

The doelings.  Don't you love those ears?

Pygora goats can have fiber ranging from soft kid-like mohair ringlets to cashmere; each goat ideally produces one type of fiber along this continuum. The fiber from Pygora goats remains soft as the goat ages. More information about the breed and fiber can be found here and here.

I have started my little Pygora herd with three doelings and one buckling. My intention is to have an easy-keeping herd of yard care experts traveling between our house and that of our neighbor (thus, the portable goat house), and to breed these goats when they are old enough.

Conferring about the new digs

Why did I purchase THESE Pygora goats and incur the cost of shipping them all the way across the U.S.?  Especially when it's so important to support local agriculture?  The easy answer is that there are few Pygora goats locally so I knew I would need to go some distance to buy.


But there's more to it...Hawks Mountain Ranch is another farm that has certified status in the USDA Voluntary Scrapie program. As long as I maintain my own certified status, any future kids sold here will be certified free of Scrapie as they leave the farm.   I've known about Lisa from Hawks Mountain Ranch for years and have been aware of her dedication the breed.  I wanted to support that dedication and have the best genetics possible for this little herd.

Oh what a fleece.

More to follow!  Please feel free to comment by clicking on the  comment link below.