About the Goats

I believe that dairy goats are one of the most important animals in the smallholding. You can have a couple of goats and a handful of chickens and you got a little farm already, supplying you in plenty of food. Milk is great for cheese, hard or soft, or yoghurt.

I had some previous experience with goats and anyway it was pretty natural to get some animals, since we have been on the farm, with horses around already. First was Lucy, a saanen-british alpine cross, which soon has been joined by Holly, a horned toggenburg type nanny. I didn't know the breed previously so I got interested and educated myself - and then I fell in love in toggenburg goats.
Since that we had some more toggenburgs, or rather toggenburg type - none of them has been registered as pedigree animal.

I kept looking in ads and one day I have found two 18-months nannys for sale, obviously toggenburg, British Togg exactly, quite far (near Nottingham) but I loved the light coloured one, she was so unusual! I had arranged with the seller and then we went to pick the girls up. Apparently they were up for sale as the trees in the garden been chewed by them! After filling all paperwork regarding movement, bloke said that the goats are pedigree, he just lost the cards, and they have some fancy names.
We went back home and I traced the breeder and the names by the eartags. Well, I just got myself two very well breed goats! Moreover, the breeder is one of the best in the country, and the nannys are daughter and granddaughter of the breed champion!

Few months after, I decided to get rid of non-pedigree part of the herd, and I got some more stock registered with British Goat Society. That was a very good move. Our girls in their first lactation give over 5 liters of milk per day each! I'm drying them off a bit now as I will be going to Poland in the end of July, but can't wait until next year, and all of the cheese I'm gonna make.

Now I'm looking forward to get some British Alpines in a couple of weeks as we are expanding our small herd. They look similar to British Toggenburgs, got same "Swiss marks" on the heads, but they ain't brown but black. And they're also very good milkers - even not in kid every year, they can be milked for 2-6 years continiously.

A good goat is worth its weight in gold, definitely!

our Anjo Cyn

Anjo Cyn's sire, breed champion Anjo Chad (photo by BGS)

The Renovation

The house had to undergo some renovation, all the timber in the north-east part of the walls had to be changed and also we wanted a new roof - well, roof had to be done anyway, the trusses were a bit dodgy... and we didn't want to keep the cement tiles!
What we wanted was a thatch. And we didn't want water reed, so commonly used nowadays - we wanted traditional straw!
It took a few days, driving around villages and looking for a thatcher and hand cut straw - as machine cut straw is useless for thatching. Luckily, we have found a thatcher and renovator in one person, moreover, he was masonry stove specialist builder, so couldn't find any better! Neighbour in the village had timber for sale, which came from house built originally in 1916 - so we had the replacement for the walls, also our builder got hold of straw and the renovation has commenced.

The House

It was an old, timber house typical for eastern region of Poland - Podlachia. Since death of the owner - an elderly widow - the house stood empty for over twenty years. When we seen it for the first time we had that feeling: this is going to be our home! You can literally feel the good vibrations there.

built in 1950

masonry stove

I think that I don't have to mention that there's no running water or electricity in this place :). Heaven!