Britain’s Largest Grazing Dairy Goat Herd

View Photos here: www.fstoppress.com This is the first year Britons will drink more than two million litres of goats’ milk and the farmer who has Britain’s largest grazing goat herd thanks the dry weather for helping to keep his goats happy and smiling. “Goats really don’t like rain — we need someone here all the time in case it rains,” said Nick Brandon, 60, who farms a huge, three thousand strong herd on his farm in Staffordshire. “Unlike sheep, goats don’t have lanolin in their coats — they can’t cope with the wet. They get miserable and could easily get pneumonia if we left them out in the rain. “Goats are far more labour and capital expensive than cows. We have to let them in straight away when it rains. They like desert or very dry conditions – not the damp we are used to here. Obviously I’d be worried about the grass they graze on if the drought continues but in the meantime the goats love being outside when it’s warm and dry. “We started our first small milking goat herd 16 years ago. In 2002 we were miking 600 – that’s now risen to 1800 animals and we have another 2000 kids expected this spring, explained Nick. Inside the milking parlour at Upper Enson Farm near Stafford there is huge walk-on-walk-off rotary milking machine – the largest of its kind – that takes up to eighty animals at a time. Each goat produces about three litres of milk per day. “We’ve seen an eleven percent increase on last year’s production. We expanded the herd and increased efficiency …