On the Next Part of the Journey

There were some things in Texas that you....... well..........just don't see many other places. Take this wall mounting of an Angora Goat. Here in the Northeast one might see a white tailed deer or a moose in a similar predicament. Not an Angora goat. And certainly not in the hallway of a local hotel.
One of the primary reasons we headed to Texas was to purchase new breeding bloodlines for our registered Angoras. Each July Kerrville Texas is the site of the Haby, Lockhart, Ross and Speck production sale. These four families are some of the oldest in the Angora goat business in Texas.
These billy goats pictured below were in sorting pens at the Speck place in Kerrville.


The sale takes place at the Ag Barn in Kerrville mid-July. Now as far as we're concerned, July is generally not the time of year us northerners want to be headed into the blast furnace heat of the South. Even though it is a "dry" heat. July 2010 though proved to be hotter and more humid in upstate NY than anywhere we were in the entire state of Texas. Much to our surprise, the Ag Barn was air conditioned ! And a welcomed surprise it was.

We strolled through the Barn looking at some of the nicest Angora goats we'd ever seen.
During our visit to the Speck sorting pens, we had taken some hair samples and did some micron counts on a number of billy goat "prospects".


When the bidding began, we knew just which goats we wanted and for what reasons -- finer hair, longer staple, denser fleece. Sales were brisk and the bidding, at times, intense. We were able to load 5 new bucks and 3 does on the trailer. After a stop at the local vet's office for the required health paperwork for transport to NY, we hit the road and headed North.

Just about now, with the snow flying outside as I write, I remember fondly, the 90 degree temperatures of Kerrville this past summer.

Our nanny goats are due to start kidding in a week or so. We'll have to start shearing and getting the barn ready. We have some beautiful alfalfa and second cut grass hay for the feeding. This year's kids will be the beginning of a number of new genetic lines for us so we wait with anticipation as to what the stork will bring.

61 Days 'Til Spring