Business

The Earls Dairy Herd Of Angle Nubian Goats


 Back in 1980 my wife and I visited a Clinical Ecologist who after carrying out several test on us for allergies, suggested that we should refrain from drinking cows milk or eating any dairy produce made from it, as well as a few other suspect foods.
We followed his advice and located a source of good goats milk, that we were able to buy on a regular basis, and soon found that we were both becoming much healthier for doing so.
I was working for British Telecom at the time, and was given the opportunity to transfer from Swindon in Wiltshire to Somerset, both my wife and myself saw this as a chance to realise our dream to purchase a property with some land, and to have our own goat's. This was the start of the Earls herd of goats. We found a property at Wilmington in Devon with just over four acres and once settled in purchased our first couple of British Toggenburg goats who we became very attached to, they supplied all our dairy produce needs including cheese, butter and yoghurt, we had been studying books on goat keeping for some time and decided our next step would be to join The Wessex Goat Club to learn more about the animals in our care.
As time progressed we decided to increase our herd with some different breeds of goat and after obtaining our first Anglo Nubians, found that these were the breed we really wanted, with their wonderful characters and high butterfat and protein output, ideal for making hard cheese, yoghurt, and butter.
Our first shows were just local club shows, which we really enjoyed, from there we progressed onto the larger shows and the agricultural shows.
Our move to Ammerham in 1987 was when we really started to get into more selective breeding and showing, we always make a point of attending the Anglo Nubian Breed Show which is now held at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire yearly knowing that only the best animals will be there, and that if you wish to improve your stock, then you need to compete against the best, it is also a good opportunity to check on the confirmation of any male or dams of the males we might wish to use.
The Anglo Nubian Breed Society Produce a yearly stud list, which gives all the necessary facts of the dam required by anyone wishing to use the male with reference to her milk yields etc, most good goats are milk recorded and the Earls herd have the distinction of having bred two of the highest milk recorded Anglo Nubian goats in the United Kingdom, Earls Jasmin Q* Br Ch, recording 2506.14 kgs in 365 days and her daughter Earls Moonrose Q*l, 2417.83 kgs of milk in 3 61 days respectively, we also at present hold the record for the highest amount of milk and points of all time for Anglo Nubians at the shows.
We have exported goats to Belgium, Germany, Saudia Arabia, Guernsey, and many other places, and have a regular demand for good male kids in the United Kingdom, for use as stud males to the many commercial herds now running here.
Rosemary and Bill Earl.

Copyright © Winsham Web Museum. All rights reserved.
This page revised 01 May 2009