This farm on wheels brings (goat) kids to city kids

Have you probably heard the English ditty - Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O? But have you heard of Old Macdonald's Travelling Farms.

While the colourful mobile trailers transport a host of small farm animals across Australia, the main attraction is always the goat kids. With their delightful antics, individual personalities and friendly nature they prove most popular with audiences of any age. “Goats are ideal because they are so adaptable," the Farm operator said.

In Australia the Travelling Farms operate on a franchise basis in each state. To go on the road, each operator is equipped with a brightly painted horse float packed with tents, barriers and 40 assorted young animals. Travelling together with a variety of goat kids, which are the most popular, are lambs, piglets, rabbits, ducks, chickens and even a calf.

"You can imagine the looks we get when people see the colourful float at road rest stops. From the number of people who stop to take photos it is obvious even the vehicle is a tourist attraction!"

For the animals of the travelling farm, the extended horse float is their farm-shed on wheels.  And it is often their home for several weeks.  

On one country trip, the West Australian troupe travelled 5,500 kilometers.

 

At each location the operators set up a large enclosure with portable barriers and a decorated green tent.  Once the animals have settled in, the public are allowed in to hand-feed, touch and mingle with the babies. The main venues are schools and kindergartens, country fairs and agricultural shows, shopping centres and nursing homes.  It often surprises the operators how many country bookings they get for their farm animals.

But the role is not simply entertainment. Old Macdonald’s Farms are approved by the Department of Education as an educational unit for primary children.  At schools they promote the attributes of the goats for meat, fibre and milk production.  At fairs and shows they explain about goat milk and use of fibre for spinning and weaving.

The question most frequently asked is "What's that?" and it usually refers to an angora kid. "Angoras confuse everyone. Surprisingly many adults and teachers think fibre goats are sheep or lambs."  It seems that most people identify goats by their smooth hair and horns.

Travelling with the animals, the operators recognize the different characteristics of the various breeds at an early age.

"The dairy goats are the attention seekers. They like to be around you and be next to you. I think the Saanans and Alpines are the most loving and the friendliest.

They are the ones the children often prefer.  The Anglo Nubians kids are more striking with their multi-coloured markings, but they are rather like spoilt children and often have a mind of their own."

The nursery also includes feral kids. These also are pretty often in mixed colours and are far more independent than the dairy breeds.

"They think barriers are made for jumping over," the operator said. "They are our Houdinis. And the angora kids are the timid ones." Both white and black angoras travel with the troupe.

And what about the Boer goat kids?

"We have a team of nine Boers and Boer crosses at the moment," I was told. "They are like nine rugby union players in a pack. They always have to be first out of the float and first fed. You can hear their feet clopping along behind you like baby elephants."

I asked if there was a difference between the behavior of the kids and lambs and was told that the goat kids want attention, whereas the lambs don’t seem to need human contact.

"Kids that join the troupe at a few days old need no training and go straight on the road but lambs take a little longer to settle in."

Feeding times are popular with any audience. The kids are fed three bottles of cold formula daily.  Children love to help. At a fair in a capital city recently 1000 children visited the mobile farmyard. At the shows, Old Macdonald's Travelling Farms charges a small entry fee. For an extra fifty cents children can buy a cup of feed for the animals.

"We try to watch how much each kid or lamb is getting but that is sometimes a bit difficult," said the operator. "Because of this we only feed chaff, no muesli.  The animals get this when they get home."

At the end of the day the tent and barriers are dismantled and the animals returned to their mobile farm shed to sleep. "The different breeds interact extremely well. They are one big happy cross-species family."

The operators source their animals from local breeders and are happy to receive orphaned kids and unwanted males. The kids stay with them from three to six months depending on their nature and rate of growth and when they graduate there is no problems finding good homes for them.

For the Travelling Farms operators life is hectic, but also rewarding in more ways than one. "The smiles make it all worthwhile.

"And it’s not children who derive pleasure from the farm. Adults who are passing often stop to look over our barriers.  Their faces light up when they see the children surrounded by animals.  The animals are so calm they seem to have a calming effect on others."

Plus, the constant stream of questions confirms that Old Macdonald's is not just an entertainment unit. "We make every attempt to educate the public and feel strongly that this is one of our roles as a travelling animal farm." 

 Note: While I wrote this article several years ago and it was pubished in New Zealand's GOAT FARMER magazine, the Old Macdonald’s Travelling Farms are still popular in Australia.

Information on visits and franchises is available from: http://www.oldmacfarms.com.au/

Pics of animals from author's own stock. Tent pics courtesy of Old Macdonalds.

GOATS - A colour kaleidoscope - Breeding coloured angoras

One of the prime qualities of white mohair is its ability to accept synthetic dyes and produce vibrant colours. However, if you are a hand-spinner or weaver, the warm subtle grey or brown tones produced by naturally coloured angoras are a delight to behold.

Smokey grey, silver, charcoal even rich brown and ginger, and more rarely, apricot are all available, and if you want to experiment with synthetic dyes over these, the resulting hues are amazingly rich and warm.

Apart from the fibre shorn from these attractive animals, staples of coloured fleece can be used for dolls wigs or felting. Tanned skins (I used the Leidreiter’s Tanning method) are used to make naturally coloured teddy bears or floor rugs, and the goats themselves make an interesting tourist attraction.

It is not only the colour gene that makes these angoras different. The inside of the skin of a culled animal is sky blue and if held up to the light is very dense as against the skin of a white angora. In some Asian countries a premium price is paid for these blue skinned goats.

Coloured angoras are naturally good mothers and often mate earlier in the season and twin more often than their white counterparts – perhaps due to being less inbred and closer to feral stock from which the line was developed.

However, breeders who run coloured angoras together with white animals must follow certain protocols to ensure the white fleece does not become contaminated with coloured fibres.

Shearing of black/coloured goats should be performed separately from the white flock – preferably on a different day as you would if running coloured sheep along with whites. Also if possible – run your coloured animals in a separate paddock, even then fibre contamination can occur from animals rubbing on wire fences. Care and observation are prerequisites in fleece preparation.

For the coloured breeder, kids should be tagged at birth and unwanted male kids culled or castrated at one week old. Don’t forget that white kids born of black mothers will carry the black recessive gene.

Breeding coloured angoras provides some of the breeding challenges which angora breeders experienced before the importation of new genetics from South Africa and Texas in the late 1990s - namely a desire to increase yields without forfeiting micron fineness.

For breeders of coloured flocks, kidding time is particularly delightful and exciting. What colour kids will the doe produce?

Most coloured kids are born with a jet black fleece which is short, course and very curly.

As the coloured kid grows, true mohair replaces the kid fibre and the grey fleece may appear ginger on the tips. But the tinged ends will disappear as the fibre grows into a true shade of grey.

Well before the fame of the book, Fifty shades of Grey, I marketed my coloured mohair under the name Shades of Grey Mohair.

Skins from coloured angoras make attractive floor rugs and the skin from an aborted or culled newborn black kid has the properties of astrakhan. For makers of doll wigs, these are very desirable for boy-dolls, the shaped pate being cut from a tanned kid skin and stuck directly onto the dolls head.

As mentioned earlier, imported lines of improved genetics were introduced into white flocks almost 20 years ago (in Australia) to produce heavier and denser fleeces. However, though fleece production can be improved, some breeders of coloured animals do not want to depart from the silky soft and extremely fine micron fibre size of the diamond fibre that the coloured angora carries.

The natural coloured fleece is highly sought after by hand-spinners and weavers and can be used virtually straight from the goat’s back. Though slippery due to its silkiness, it is a delight to spin on its own but is even better when blended with alpaca or fine wool, silk or other natural fibre. It produces a soft, silky luxury yarn.

Just like white angoras, the goats need shearing twice a year (unless you want to grow a particularly long coloured fleece suitable for dolls’ wigs.)
This speciality product will return a premium price.

As a hobby farmer or tourist park, if you only want to run a handful of goats, the small framed, dainty and docile coloured angora is a delightful choice and, while black fibre cannot be sold in commercial quantities, crafts people will welcome your product as it is a sheer delight to spin.

Some agricultural shows have special categories for both coloured animals and their fleece.

Why not let coloured angoras colour your world?

Note: Years ago the author ran a flock of 20 coloured angoras in Western Australia. She has spun coloured mohair and also made teddy bears and other soft toys and floor rugs from the tanned skins. Part of this article by Margaret Muir first appeared in The Goat Farmer magazine from New Zealand.

Changing Hats - the writer's prerogative - each hat tells a story

A fellow author said to me “a writer wears many hats” – that made me feel better as recently my writing has taken several twists and turns.

At home in Tasmania - my winter hat

My 2015 New Year’s resolution was to take care of some of the things that have been on the back-burner for years, because every time I start writing a new book that is where they stay. 

So, I decided to take a stand, sift through my archives and address the pieces of writing that had been sadly neglected.  

Hosting a garden party

 In retrospect, perhaps some should have been tossed out with the garbage long ago but who am I to judge. So the plan was to revise, re-edit and publish and let the readers decide. Hopefully, in the end, I will be satisfied that I have cleared the deck before embarking on my next full length novel.

Heading up the Derwent to Hobart

Author seeking inspiration

Boer Goat breeder

After resurrecting some short stories and children’s stories, I have changed hats again and turned to an assortment of articles I had written on goats. These will hopefully go into an e-book covering various aspects of the goat industry including hairy, dairy and commercial goat farming. 

When that is done, I want to revisit the story of an Australian bushranger that has long been waiting to be written. Then I need to write a book on Writing Death. 

When those are out of the way, I can return to Captain Oliver Quintrell and his crew and set sail on another adventure on the high seas but for the moment I will stay with the goat hat.

Graduation ECU Perth

Here are a few of the other hats I have donned over the years.

Bushfire brigade W.A.

 

 

Bow watch - Australian Bight - Bark Europa

Cruising Antarctic waters

Paddler in dragon boat team

There are probably lots more - but that will suffice for the present.

GOATS - promoting the commercial goatmeat industry

Goats in Utes - A way to promote the commercial goat meat industry

 Goat meat represents lean meat and is the most eaten meat in the world.

For goat breeders whose focus is on the commercial (meat) side of the industry encouraging other breeder to enter the industry is not always easy. However, here’s an idea that promotes the goatmeat side of the industry and encourages other farmers to enter this branch of farming.

Goats in Utes (utility vehicles, trucks or trailers) was a unique event organised to promote commercial goatmeat production at a West Australian country show some years ago. It followed on from a competition – Dogs in Utes which attracted 700 farm vehicles – a world record for the greatest number of farm vehicles with a working dog on the back.

The idea of the competition was to encourage commercial goat farmers to display their produce (namely meat goats) and was arranged as part of a Boer Goat field day.

The main category for the competition was a group of three crossbred meat goats under 12 months of age.  The animals were judged on meat quality and the uniformity of the three in the group. 

“Presenting an even line is one of the most important factors when producing for the meat market,” said the judge who had been breeding goats for over 20 years. He was impressed with the quality and evenness of the groups but was concerned with the level of fat on a few. He advised the growers to make sure that their animals did not become fat. It is not desirable in meat animals.

“Goat meat is uniquely lean,” he said. "If the goats are fat they are not marketable. Customers wanting fat on animals will buy some other meat product."  

The second judge, a Senior Research Fellow agreed that the animals were in good condition and was impressed with the degree of muscling on the goats. "Being a practical competition there is plenty of opportunity for questions to be answered," the judge, an expert on animal nutrition said he saw the Goats in Utes competition as an innovative educational event for new and existing breeders. “No one has a mortgage on knowledge.”

He advised on balanced nutritional requirements for livestock and said some growers were promoting too much fattening in their animals. His concern was that stud breeders were over-conditioning their bucks, rendering them unsuitable for working conditions.

“You need a working buck, not one that is going to melt in the paddock. Commercial producers buy sires to improve the genetic qualities of their herd. But if a buck can’t deliver the sperm when required, then he is no good to the industry,” he said.

“This problem is particularly applicable where a 'buck-effect' mating was required. The 'buck-effect' is seen when a buck is introduced to a doe herd that has had no exposure to a male goat. The does all cycle between day 6 and day 11 following introduction of the buck and are served within that 5 day period.”

'The buck-effect'

The result is that all kids are born at the same time and will grow to export size at the time required.

The animals were assessed on uniformity, condition and fat score, and conformation. Comment was made about each group with direct feedback to the grower/producer.

The judges agreed that the competition provided a novel way of judging meat animals and promoted the commercial aspect of the goat industry.

“Competition in the show ring is OK,” he said, “but at the end of the day it’s the commercial growers who must benefit.”

Prizes were offered for various categories – first prize of $250 for a group of 5-month-old, feral/Boer cross goats.  The second prize of $100 for three angora/Boer crosses.

As part of the event, breeders were shown how to feel for the depth of muscle on the goats and made comment about a group of cashmere/Boer capretto kids.  Running his hand across the pliable back muscle, the judge said, “You can almost feel that the meat colour on these carcases will be correct (pale).”

He was impressed with a group of feral/Boer buck kids, which at five months old fitted into the male over 25 kg category and were “very saleable”.

While the event had not attracted as many goats as dogs, it gave encouragement to the commercial breeders who are the backbone of the goat meat industry but are often neglected.

*   *   *

Current facts of interest from Meat and Livestock Australia: 

Currently China, India and Nigeria are the largest producers and consumers of goatmeat. By comparison, Australia is a relatively small producer of goatmeat, however, it is the world leader in goatmeat exports.

In 2012-13 Australia exported 31,876 tonnes of goatmeat mainly to the US and Taiwan. These exports were worth Au $145.8 million FOB.

Goat carcasses in the abbatior

Live goats were also exported from Australia mainly to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. The dollar value of the Live Goat exports was $9.65 million in 2011-12.

Australian goat slaughter in 2012-13 was around 1.99 million head.

Boer goats and rangeland goats are predominately used for meat production.

Cashmere and Angora breeds are used in fibre production.

Ref : www.mla.com.au Meat and Livestock Australia.

Note: This article by Margaret Muir was originally posted in The Goat Farmer magazine – individual names have been removed (provided on request)

Note 2: This is the first a series articles which will be available as an e-book in due course.