PENBORN GOAT FARM

The foundation of the PENBORN HERD

When we started breeding Goldens back in the early 1990's it was very difficult to find good breeding stock. We were lucky to get  Garness Amy , as a foundation dam. Amy went on to set breed lactation records that still stand today. The other female foundation  goats were Dourhu Honey and  Gramercy Heather. All three girls were very good milkers with good conformation. The foundation male we chose was the superb Tetherdown Ashlea, a male from an unfashionable bloodline, but with bags of personality and good looks. Over the generations,  by judicious line breeding , we have created a separate bloodline with excellent conformation, friendly personalities, and quality milk yields (which are in proportion to the size of the breed). We think our Goldens represent the best qualities of the breed, and are ideally suited to the smallholder , or familly looking for quality milking goats with long lactations.

The ideal golden :-

The facial line of the head should be straight or slightly dished, the dish sometimes enhanced by a tuft of hair above the forehead.

The ears are slightly larger than the 'swiss' breeds, erect, pointing slightly forward or reminiscent of a 'bonnet',  the ears may have a slight upturn at the tip.

The goat may vary in colour from cream to chestnut red , with all shades of gold in between. It may have small pure white markings, but  not any other colours such as brown, grey or black. The 'Swiss' markings of the Toggenburg or the 'eelstripe' of the English are prohibited.

Skin colour is generally a shade of gold.

Hair may be long or short.

The Golden is generally smaller than the british breeds, with a less pronounced wedge shape.

Goldens are horned but usually disbudded by pedigree breeders.

Additional information

Milk yields are on average lower than their  British counterparts, but once size is taken into account the best goldens can , on a pound for pound basis, outmilk their larger cousins.

Goldens are not well suited for large scale commercial milk production, they are happier in small herds such as those kept by smallholders.

They have very placid tempraments.