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After the encouraging results from the first backcross kids my breeding plan is to keep crossing Syco to the cashmere does and to select one or two Bucks   with high down growth rate, low intermediate fibre percentage, high yield, less than 16.5 microns, CV less than 23 on their second shearing. (2 shearings per year) If possible, a buck that is also free of back mane would be selected.

The bucks would then be crossed back to the cashmere does to produce 87.5% Cashmere 12.5% Angora crosses. If a significant number of animals have fleeces that are 14.5 -16 microns I may stay at this level and from then on inbreed and line breed to set the desired characteristics and produce a more uniform line. If they are not as fine as I want, then I will backcross to cashmere again to produce 93.75% Cashmeres. I could also backcross to higher cashmere percentages if required.

Each generation will be fleece tested and stringent selection carried out. I will also be selecting for worm , especially Barbers Pole worm, resistance. 

 This may take me 10 years or more but I'm sure it will be a fascinating journey with plenty of surprises.

I sowed the usual cowpeas, lablab and corn as Summer fodder and they have all grown well. I added Burgundy Bean to the mix and it added a small amount of extra feed. 

 With the heat and humidity all the perennial ryegrass has turned to crap and is inedible. I have killed off 2 zones with herbicide then cultivated them.

 I have sown a digit grass ' Strickland' in place of the ryegrass and am trialing Desmanthus virgatus  as a legume shrub in the middle of the zones.  I hope the goats can browse on it directly without killing it. A protected plot has performed very well and has seeded very well allowing more area to be sown. A test plot of 'Strickland' has performed very well also. No rust or other diseases or significant pests. It grows tall and erect, regrows well after grazing, and my goats love it. It is damaged by frost but is said to remain palatable, I hope so. It regrows in Spring and is perennial.

I have also harvested about a kilogram of Pigeon Pea seeds from the 5 plants that grew from the saved seed from my frosted crop, so I will be sowing some of them with lucerne and Digit grass in 2 more fodder zones.

My 50% cashmere 50% Texan Angora Buck, No.1 , Syco, has become sexually active but I don't want my does to get pregnant until March. I would usually put him in the Dam paddock but it is short of feed, so I am trying an Olor on him, a sort of Buck condom, to prevent copulation.

I made one from an old soft vinyl apron that I cut up and stitched to a cotton ribbon. I stitched in a small weight at the bottom of it to help it hang properly. see pics in new gallery.  So far, so good but the does have not come on heat yet so I don't know if it will work effectively or not.

It reportedly works in Kenya, so I hope it will work here.

2 days after the Olor was put on 2 does came on heat. No.33 and 3 month old No. 39 .The Olor worked well preventing copulation. The next day Syco was chasing No.20, who was not on heat and didn't want to be caught, so she ran him over some fallen branches and Syco managed to rip his olor. I took it off , washed it and stitched up the rip. I glued on a piece of tarp to reinforce it and added elastic straps to the ties. see pics.

It looks like working well from now on.

Syco is a lot happier being with his does than he was being apart from them. With such a small property, the does can get right up to the dividing fence when they are on heat. An electric fence keeps them apart but it made Syco very cranky. He is much friendlier now, even though he cannot mate with the does he still courts and mounts them and seems satisfied with that.

I made smaller versions for the buck kids and they are working very well also.

April 2009: No. 33 looks pregnant, and Bitch Face has not come back on heat so I think she is pregnant also. The Olor is not reliable and some how Syco can defeat it. He and the 2 young bucks have been shut in the dam paddock. They are a bit noisy but I don't want any more unplanned pregnancies.

The Out of Season Kids had to be shorn at 7 months of age instead of the usual 10 to 11 months of age. This caused an increase in fine guard hairs retained from their birth coats. As a consequence, CV's were higher than average at 23.61 to 29.75 AV= 26.4%.

Yields were below average at 27.85% to 44.75% AV= 33.96 %.

Mean fibre diameters were about average at 13.96 to 15.8 microns, AV= 14.82 microns.

Curvatures were average at 38.75 to 55.95 deg./mm AV= 47.83 deg./mm

Down weights were below average at 37 to 99 grams, reflecting the shorter cashmere growing period.