So everybody wants to know, “What’s our story?” Well - where to begin?
Let’s see….. “THE REALIZATION THAT YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL”
I grew up in the suburbs in a mid-size town in Oregon. No livestock - dreamed of horses. Always wanted one. After my older brothers and sister moved away, my mom and I found ourselves moving to Los Angeles. It was during the years of the Carter Administration and times were stressful. Mom found a good job. Things were turning around. I finished school.
At one point I had taken a job working in administration. This is how and where I met my husband, the Australian. He was doing business with the same company. I suppose it was only a matter of time that I should end up actually living in Australia. We soon found ourselves in Brisbane (Queensland) with half an acre and a lot of grass. Not enough for a horse - but I was thinking about it!
In the pursuit of finding something small enough with four legs and a stomach for grass, we ended up with a small family of angora goats. I certainly wasn’t looking for goats - I was thinking a cute lamb at the time. But here we were, welcoming in a mother and twins.
They were scared of us at first. Didn’t understand where they were, or who we were. It took months of spending many hours with them where they finally accepted us as part of their herd and would come up to us. They even got to a point where they came looking for us, and it wasn’t just about the grain they were getting for dinner. I wonder that maybe it may have had to do with the peanut butter cookies?
I decided to learn more about looking after goats. Having just the three was fun, and I enjoyed the trips to the produce agent (where you can purchase grain and hay for livestock) - where I found a very knowledgeable worker who took an interest. The local vet had a background in bovines which meant that even though he spent most of his time caring for dogs and cats in the suburbs, when our wether (male goat) had digestive problems, he also took an interest and taught me a lot about the medical requirements of goats. One day I drove little Bruce (about 7 months old) to the vet in the back seat of the Corolla - I stopped at a traffic light and he was crying (very loudly) for his mother. I’ll never forget the look on the woman’s face in the car next to me!
After that medical emergency, I had to learn more before even contemplating a larger group, so I enrolled in a correspondence course through the Queensland Rural TAFE. This is similar to the Community Colleges in the States. I had a great teacher to correspond with, a well-written program, and it expanded my thoughts greatly. This was well before the days of email. I did at least have the computer. I kept the course books and lessons and referred back to them often. I found myself researching and reading everything I could find on goats.
Realization: A good education is AS VALUABLE as is experience.
My husband and I started looking for acreage out in the country. The “100 acres with a livable house”. Well, we found something - and we’re handy enough - so we took it on. Let me say at this point; this was the pioneer life. No power, solar lights and candles, combustion hot water (that means a wood burning stove that heats your water while you cook), severely corroded tanks (that’s the water supply and requires a pump to fill and gravity to feed) and terrible, rusty fencing. It was enough to keep the neighbor's cattle out from eating our paddocks. Certainly nothing that would contain goats (unless of course they love you and sleep on the back verandah generally - which fortunately ours did at that point!).
Realization: Set up property PROPERLY; BEFORE animals arrive.
The hot water system and the wood chopping was great for about a month - but we soldiered on.
We developed the property, water, mains power, all the mod-cons. It was all quite livable with satellite internet and air-conditioning towards the end. The process took years.
We had discovered these wonderful and personable creatures. We had come to respect that they are intelligent and thoughtful; and I think that anyone I find that has had the experience of angora goats, has had a life-changing experience. They are unlike any other goat.
Contrary to what many believe about goats. Angoras will not eat anything. In fact, they are quite fussy. If their grain falls to the dirt, that is where it stays. They would rather eat scrub and weeds then the finest of Lucerne green hay (which is not good for them anyway). I found I had to keep a horse just to keep the goats’ pens cleaned up, otherwise they would waste so much of their dinner. An interesting observation! (Yes, I did get the horse, and yes - he was considerate of the goats).
Once the property was PROPERLY set up, I mean with sheds, penning, shearing facilities, proper goat fencing, yards to separate and all of the equipment in place, we proceeded with acquiring a stud herd of culls (older does - but still very good quality mohair and most importantly, experienced mothers). They arrived already ‘in kid’ which meant they were pregnant. We didn’t have to worry about babies until four months later, plenty of time to get to know everyone and be accepted by them. This takes time and patience. Until they accept you, you are ignored. I would describe many of them as ‘indifferent’ in the beginning. A starter herd of thirty behaves quite differently to having just three pets.
Spring arrived (September) and it was our first kidding. We had the shed set up like a maternity ward. Lots of dim lighting, small pens, straw everywhere! Very cozy - and in hindsight I suppose to me it was ‘no expense spared’ for these beautiful creatures that I treasured and cared for.
My mother came to visit that year and so happens at that time, there were still a few mothers yet to kid so we had the great experience of our first kidding together.
One mother in particular, named Margaret, was having twins. The first took a long time, she was very tired and he was very big, I had to help. He was named Bartholomew. Almost immediately after, Anastasia was born. She was scrawny and weak. We left Margaret to tend to her children but she immediately rejected Anna and while watching her, she began to hurt her. So my daughter and I picked her up and took her up to the house. I think that was the moment Anna came to the realization that she was human, and not goat. She didn’t talk to her natural mother again.
It took us a week to find a formula that settled her, that she could digest, and she starting picking up weight. As she grew - she soon outgrew the laundry basket with the heating pad at the side of the bed so we moved her out to a cozy box and blanket out on the verandah outside of my bedroom door. She would come looking for me at night and would not settle in her nest until I was settled in my bed. (It was the funniest thing) but she decided that I was her mother and my place was with her. She was very devoted, and very convinced and secure in who she was and what her place was, with me, human.
Realization: Have a herd with as many good mothers as possible. Keep them close to a clean, dry pen so they will clean the kid and bond. Take the time to help where possible. If that means being a midwife, then so be it. If all ends well then it will hopefully be a ‘happily ever after’ in their lives. A baby up in our house means bottles, late nights and little pebbles to vacuum up. I have looked after several. They all still call me Mum, even years later.
Prior to my mom arriving I had my first shearing experience. I found (or should I say was referred to) the most caring, knowledgeable and experienced person around. (I got lucky on that one) - and she taught me quite a lot about caring for these lovely creatures. She would come out to the property for shearing with enough time to have dinner with us. A great evening and the next morning would always be on target and focused. She could shear 80 in a day if the helpers were on point. She took the time to teach us all about shearing day (which of course) made her job easier! Very interesting.
Realization: Leave the shearing to the professionals. Goats will respect someone who knows what they are doing and only comes in to do the shearing. When a goat shows respect, they squirm less. This makes for little to no shearing cuts. Don’t lose sight that these guys have feelings and will make eye contact with me and ask “why are you letting this person do this to me?”
When mom arrived I had a whole clip bagged up and I was wondering what to do with it. Not enough in this first shearing to send a bale off to the wool brokers, but quite a volume of mohair to contemplate.
Let me say about my mom; she learned to knit from this wonderful Swedish lady in 4H Club at the age of 8 yrs. She's well into retirement now. It was my mom who came up with the idea of trying to do more with this than ‘just send it off and get what you get’. I believe there are many farmers out there who take a lot of pride in their goats; and a tremendous amount of time and care producing a quality shearing result with good volume and very fine quality mohair - and are happy to send it off to the auction. But when mom starting really talking about mohair; and how gorgeous this is - it opened up the concept “what can we do to take this product and make more of an impact in the world?” At that time I was definitely focused on developing the farming operation, but I began exploring the options available outside of the brokerage house.
Mom enjoyed her six weeks in Australia at our farm. We did get to town now and again, but just on my farm - she saw the wallabies, koalas and the native parrots. It was better than visiting a zoo! Besides - we had all these goats and babies to tend so it wasn’t easy getting away for any more than the day!
Time passed and the generations grew. I think I really found my calling in this farming thing. It was a lot of work, a lot of responsibility, fortunately I had my own two daughters to help. It was a learning experience for us all, together. I always wondered what it would be like to grow up on a farm. My daughters have had the privilege of doing just that. When I say “we love our goaties” - it comes from these years of the farm.
Whilst investigating outsourcing of processing; I found great limitations in the Australian market. It was mostly economics, but it was also the small and limited competitive market. I did try working with a few companies, but it turned out to be inefficient and ineffective. I explored purchasing and importing my own processing equipment, which I did. I researched, learned as much as possible, and tested out actually processing. The limitations came from the limitations of the equipment, and my lack of experience. After all, I was the farmer.
Realization: Leave processing to a professional person who spends all day, everyday on the subject. The finished product will be as good as the operator’s experience on the subject. The limitations will be in the equipment. Different mill brands will produce different spins. If you want a variety of finishes - use more than one type and brand of mill.
From that point we began exporting the raw fiber. This was not a simple task, but again with research we worked it out. Mom located several options for processing in the USA. So far - we are pleased with these relationships and their expertise and experience.
I found myself having to make one of the most difficult decisions of my life. With my husband’s business expanding, in was in our best interest to relocate to the USA. I was fortunate to find a very caring person to take over my farm operations, and with a lot of heartache involved, we relocated the herd and all of the equipment. Keep in mind, that in Australia - moving livestock involves permits, veterinarians, vaccinations and a prescribed medicated cleansing. This takes months of planning and patience and must be done immediately after shearing. With a lot of sweat and tears we got the job done.
Realization: Keeping livestock is a 24/7 job. Be absolutely committed with no possibility of making a change; as you are messing with other people (I mean the goats of course).
I look back on the whole experience often. I browse my photos. I think about the goaties. I’m pleased to have had the privilege.
I’ve found a network of primary producers and suppliers who will continue on with what they do - so I am no longer the person doing the shoveling (of the poo).
Now I’m back behind a desk again. And would you believe, a lot of traveling too. I can now focus my complete attention to the business side of Colinton Australian Angoras in the USA. It’s now all about coordination, import/export, logistics, marketing and distribution. With my mom’s help, we’ve turned a ‘concept’ into a reality. After exploring multiple levels of the textile industry, we’re settled on the supply of a specialty yarn at wholesale to the Boutique Retailers of the Knitting and Craft Industry. Our network grows with each show where we exhibit, and we're working diligently on supporting our network. My mom is a very talented handcrafter, and I believe somewhere in my early childhood I was paying attention and a love of textiles wore off.
Realization: Do that which is in your capacity. Thrive in that which you are most talented. You can’t do it all. Delegation is the key to good management, growth and expansion.
