Goat-herding holidays

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34045, 8 January 1976, Page 5

Goat-herding holidays

CV.Z.P.A. Staff Crspdt) I LONDON. | British holiday-makers, I fed up with the tedium of basking every year on the Mediterranean, could have all their problems solved by a new idea from the Welsh Tourist Board, a course in goat-keeping. For Britons who have; always nurtured dreams of! being goatherds the new; Welsh holiday provides all' the answers. Beginners will be taught' how to feed, care for and' milk goats during the fiveday course. The fee for the. course is about $9.65 (bring your own gum-boots). The course will also teach the intricacies of hoof-trimming, cheese-making and growing herbs To feed the goats. The scheme has been or-!

Iganised by Mrs Iris Stani-. I land, aged 44. who keeps 21' I goats on her 15-acre farm ini ! South-West Wales. ’ “So many people came I into the farm to ask about: goats that 1 decided to give; ■ lessons,” Mrs Staniland said. , “I began by giving evening classes and then decided to give people a chance to , study goats during their’ ■ holidays. They are fascinating animals and very cheap ; i to keep.” For a town-dweller the 'thought of milking a goat j| conjures up some hilarious images. To the uninitiated,, . milking a cow seems fairly , straight-forward — you sit j on a stool and the works are jail there before you. But; surely when it comes to a ,;goat it is more than a mat- ’ ter of grovelling around at ground level? Again Mrs Staniland has : the answer. ‘We have an; artificcial udder for the; ners to practice on before; ’ trying the real thing,” she! said. Those who take up the--1 unusual holiday offer need Lnot think of it as just a ■ “splash in the bucket.” J; "We will give people the r basic knowledge to start a •, small herd and then put . them in touch with goat:,l keepers in their own area,” I Mrs Staniland said. I