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Goats

Goats probably outnumber sheep and cattle worldwide. They are highly fertile (about 150% kidding) and provide the basic meat and milk requirements for millions of people.

Many breeds of meat and milk goats exist today but it is the Angora goat and the cashmere goat that are renowned for the valuable fleeces they produce.

We have bred Angora bucks and does of exceptionally high fibre density and fibre length like the buck shown below, that can quickly convert other breeds of goats in to valuable fleece animals with excellent meat and milking traits.

Figure 1.This 14 month old SRS® Angora buck (top left) with 3 months fleece growth has about twice the density and length of fibres of other Angora goats. The fleece consists of long and thin coiling staples (top right) which are highly aligned (bottom left) on a loose skin (bottom right).

The stunning breakthrough that we have made in our SRS® breeding programs is to produce high quality mohair on meat and milking goats which previously had no fleece. Evidence for this is shown below.

Figure 2. This 6 month old goat weights 46 kilograms, or about twice the body weight of an Angora goat at this age. It is a triplet producing good quality mohair, 125 millimetres long, 25 microns in fibre diameter and an estimated fleece weight of 3 kilograms. The fleece sells for AUD $13.00 per kilogram. It is the progeny of a SRS® Angora buck with a fleece of high density and length joined to a Boer (meat) x Saanen (milking) doe which has no fleece.

Leading Bucks

Yarran Park Angora Stud
Owner: Keith Cowen
e/ kcowen@bordernet.com.au
w/ www.yarranparkangoras.com.au

Yarran Park Andy
Body weight: 92.0 kilograms at 6 months of age
Andy is a very large buck with outstanding conformation. He produces a very fine soft handlong mohair without any drop in fleece weight.
Yarran Park Socrates
Body weight: 2.2 kilograms for 2nd shearing at 25.0 microns / 4.3 kilograms for 3rd shearing at 25.8 microns
This outstanding sire is one of our top stud bucks. He produces super soft fine mohair with great lustre. A very well grown buck with a quiet temperament.
Yarran Park Arnie (colour: solid white)
Body weight: 67.0 kilograms at 14 months of age
Fleece weight: 3.5 kilograms for 2nd shearing at 26.5 microns / 6.5 kilograms for 3rd shearing at 27.9 microns
This sire is the result of a very successful embryo transfer program in 2004. We retained this buck for his outstanding growth rates and high fleece weights. He will be used in the 2006 breeding season.