It's All in The Name |
From 1982 to 1990 we lived on a 1912 ex-working 70 ft narrowboat called "Gerald" and travelled the extensive British canal system. Not wanting to leave my goats behind Keith built them their own separate cabin in the bow. My GG foundation goat Harriet was the original "boat-goat" and took to life afloat like a duck to water. I wrote an ongoing account of our travels for the Derbyshire Dairy Goat Club which ended up being published by several other goat clubs.It was my intention to make these stories into a book at some point but so far I have never seemed to find the time. |
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It was certainly a wonderful period in our lives and one the goats loved too. Our old goat-boat "Gerald". The fore-cabin was where the goats lived. The black sheets rolled up during the day and the goats came up steps then jumped over the side onto the bank. The roof hatch lifted off and Harriet often stood up on a ledge in the bow and stuck her head out to watch where we were going. |
Thank you Hat for your contribution to this beautiful breed! |
If the health protocols ever change we hope to export more embryos to boost the number of Golden Guernsey's in the US and elsewhere. My own "Peaclond" GG's are all descended from my foundation goat R126 Tambo Harriet *2 who I bought in 1982. Her breeder, Virginia Crane, did so much to promote the breed during the '70's and '80's and her "Tambo"GG's were bred to milk Harriet's dam was R155 Novington Dorcas Q*1 the Tambo foundation goat and the first GG to gain a Q* award. Her grand-dam was the imported R25 Rockmount Romany * the first to gain a star and one of the first GG's to be milk recorded. Harriet proved to be a prepotent and prolific breeder producing four qualifying daughters and three BCC winning sons. Her best daughter R136 Peaclond Progress *3 provided some of the embryos for the US and was the dam of Scawton Duchess and $136/109 Scawton Pilgrim. Duchess came to me as a kid from my friend Ruth McIntyre and produced litter sisters RM146 Peaclond Principle Q*5 and RM139 Peaclond Princess *5 Br.Ch (10 BCC's). A repeat mating produced R109 Peaclond Paxos (dam of $109/136 Peaclond Poseidon) and the males $137/141 Peaclond Paros and $137/141 Peaclond Poros (exported to Guernsey). Duchess returned to her breeder Ruth McIntyre and continued this prolific milking family by achieving RM137 and gaining her star award in milking competition making her *4. She also won 4 BCC's in the show ring. Unfortunately the outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease in 2001 prevented her gaining her 5th BCC to become a Breed Champion but her gorgeous daughter RM139 Peaclond Princess carried on the good work winning 10 BCC's and gaining *5 Br.Ch. status. In 2001 Princess produced a daughter Puregold sired by Progress's son Pilgrim. In 2003 Puregold achieved RM130 as a 1st-kidder.
This gave Ruth and I three direct generations of RM (Register of Merit) milkers and elevated Puregold's young son Pureglow to $$ status. Only the second GG male to gain this award. In 2004 semen from $$130/139 Peaclond Pureglow was exported to the USA where it will hopefully benefit Guernsey enthusiasts with both GG and BG goats. In 2005 Princess (aged 9) produced Puregem sired by Glow, a little cracker who will hopefully do her bit for this family.
Puregold produced two AI-sired males by Crimea Pembroke her grandsire. I hope to get Puregold to some shows in 2005. In 2004 I only managed one show but senior herd sire $109/136 Peaclond Poseidon Semen from Poseidon has been collected for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust ReGENEration bank. |
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