Hi, my name is Ailene & this is how I ended up in the world of pygmy goats!
I was brought up in Northumberland in the world of agriculture & construction. In 2012 we were finishing converting a farm steading in Perthshire into self-catering holiday cottages & I decided it would be a great idea to get a few animals for the guests to interact with. So, I dragged my partner, Stewart, to loads of local shows & saw pygmy goats being shown – I’d never had anything to do with goats (apart from the milker on the farm for orphan lambs when I was very young) & I was really taken by their cheeky characters.
After asking lots of questions, I found a farm nearby that bred pygmy goats and, in the summer of 2012, Izzy, George & Chloe our first 3 pets arrived followed very closely by 3 more pets, a nanny & 5 female kids & so my journey began. From there I started showing (with various degrees of success) which I thoroughly enjoyed because apart from always learning I found that, in the world of showing, ‘goat’ breeders/owners are the nicest, kindest most helpful people & they’re good bakers!!!
At present I have 19 pygmy goats for the holiday cottages’ guests & farm visitors to meet along with 13 Bagot goats, 14 donkeys, 37 alpacas, 4 wallabies, 3 meerkats, 4 sheep & a reindeer, 4 dogs, hens, ducks & geese – a long way on from the original 3 pets who are still loving life & still getting up to mischief!!
Ailene
