Go on a course: goat-keeping

Learn how to look after your caprine herd. By Ruth Chandler

'I was in two minds about my afternoon course at Roke Farm in Hampshire. As the day approached, I kept thinking back to an unfortunate incident years ago, when a goat had suffered from projectile diarrhoea as I tried to milk her. Bearing this in mind, I wore my scruffiest clothes.

'On arrival, I joined the class of four in an animal shed. Tutor Luke Gates, an experienced goat-keeper, began with practical advice. He covered everything from good fencing to the use of strong coffee as an antidote to the consumption of poisonous plants - the goat's omnivorous reputation, it seems, is well deserved.

'"They'll eat the contents of your washing line and even your rhododendron," Luke warned. But despite their voracious appetites and my personal trepidation, Luke put our minds at rest and reassured us that goat-keeping was very easy and ideal for those new to smallholding.

'Following this informal tutorial, our first task was bottle-feeding one of the farm's white and brown Anglo-Nubian kids. Then we learned how to tag, crucially avoiding the numerous veins in this particular breed's ears. Next came a less pleasant aspect of goat-keeping: hoof care. A goat has four toes on each hoof, and the two in front need trimming with shears to prevent foot rot. We worked in pairs - one person holding the goat still and the other performing the pedicure. I started by scraping out the debris between the toes and then shaved down the outside edge and bottom part to leave a flat surface showing new, white growth.

'Our last task was another essential part of goat husbandry: vaccination. We needn't have worried as our ‘patients' were thankfully oblivious to the injections we gave them in their shoulders.

'I left the farm inspired to rear my own caprine herd in the future - and thankfully free from the repercussions of any goat bowel problems.'

For more details contact Miller's Ark Animals at Roke Farm (01256 701847; www.millersark.co.uk).

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