Hi Irene - thank you for all that info not a waffle at all
- are yours Old English? When you say they stand just below hip height (and you being 5'3") is that their heads or shoulders? Also is the amount of milk just for you or do you keep the kid with the doe in the day time? What are they like having their kids taken off them at nighttime, do they bawl? Its quite important as our bedroom wall is the other side of the byre where the goats would be housed.
I know the ferry company is very used to shipping livestock up and down to the islands and mainland on a weekly basis so that would be very useful to be able to take advantage of that facility. I had planned on driving down with a trailer but it is very dependent on finding some kind soul to take care of croft animals and dogs and cats etc.
The other thing I have to take into consideration is hardiness and getting a breed that could survive the cold winds and rain here in winter and not eat for Scotland. Whilst they would be loved and cared for very well keeping livestock in Shetland is hard and they have to make it viable for myself and my husband. I am considering a couple of breeds including the Guernsey but the Primitive are ticking most of the boxes at the moment.
Irene you mention that yours are slightly longer in the leg can I ask you if you have any jumping fencing issues? Are they a jumpy breed or quite placid? I've just read this back and there are a lot of questions - I suppose the most important for me are do they jump and are they noisy?
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