I was interested to read this post as we are just thinking we'd like to get some Angora goats. How many do you have? Do you spin the fleece yourself? Do you have any wisdom to pass on before we get them?!
Thanks
Hi there seems to be a dirth of definitive information about keeping angora goats, but I'll try and pass on what we have learnt.
Our main herd now have a very large building from which they can free range, this was basically once a silage pit with 12 foot cement and dry stone wall, my husband has created a full roof and they have boulders lining the inside to sleep and relax on, these also keep their hooves in trim to quite an extent. In the summer the front is fully open in the winter a wall and door are introduced. We deep litter them in the winter constantly topping up with straw. Its important to keep their bedroom area as dry as possible as otherwise they easily get foot infections.
They are far more delicate than dairy goats and need to have access to shelter at all times, they will go out in the rain if its light but their heavy fleece quickly can become waterlogged if exposed to heavy rain.
Need to keep the fleece as clean as possible so either make a circular straight sided hayrack - with 2mm security 4 inch mesh or construct a straight sided hay rack, they like to reach up to feed to raise it off the ground.
We feed them twice a day with a standard course mix in two very long low troughs and supplement with red rockies and salt lick.
In the summer we crovect them twice firstly April and then August, we also worm them with LA Cydactin (Inject) liver fluke them (some of our ground is damp) and check their feet for rot. We Lambivac every year.
They are very easy to train to the bucket and very very friendly, they all have their own personalities. I designed my own goat stand as they are easy to handle as kids but do get heavy. They happily queue to take their turn to walk up the ramp, put their head through the yoke and munch on muesli while we clip, trim inject etc.
Its important to de dag them in the warm weather as blow flies are attracted to mucky bots and wilhelms.
We clean process and spin etc our own fleece. If you would like to contact directly I can be reached on celticmohair@gmail.com more than happy to help if I can in any way as we had bad advice at first.
Kind regards
Mandy