DIMINUTIVE and captivating, pygmy goats are invariably class clowns and escapology experts. Equally, they are hearty and relatively undemanding, which means that they frequently find favour with first-time animal keepers with small parcels of land. Provide a pygmy with shelter, playthings, a playmate (for they shouldn’t be kept alone), an ample dollop of hay, an unending supply of fresh water, plus a good mineral lick, and they will return the favour with hours of laugh-inducing antics. Fencing, however, should be considerably higher than Capra hircus themselves (who generally hit the measuring stick at about the same mark as a cocker spaniel) or bids for freedom are likely to become a nightmarishly regular occurrence.
Kept principally as pets, companions or to grace the show ring, their sanguine temperaments and stature mean that they can sometimes be found visiting the likes of care homes and hospices to provide a pick-me-up to the sick and the frail.
The Pygmy Goat Club (www.pygmygoatclub. org.uk) is a good first port of call for would-be owners of these pint-sized, sometimes clamorous fizz-bombs, which are descended from dwarf breeds, notably those hailing from West Africa and South Sudan. Once the chosen goats arrive, they certainly won’t be leaving in a hurry, as these devotees attest.
‘We call them outdoor dogs’
SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE smallholder Tanya Sheasby and her three sons, Sam, 14, Finlay, 12, and James, 10, who run The Little Farming Company, breed and train pygmy goats as therapy animals.
Denne historien er fra May 17, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 17, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
