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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.

Update 2010.

The 'Strickland' digit grass does very well over the warmer months and is too vigorous to grow with anything else. It smothered lucerne, Pigeon Peas and Desmanthus.  Over Winter it dies off and my goats do not eat the dead grass. As an experiment. I spread oats ( Drover)  seeds over the top of the dead grass then mowed it short with my ride on mower., NO cultivation. I irrigated and the oats grew very well. In late spring when the oats were dying off I mowed and fertilized and the digit grass reestablished itself in a month or so and has provided plenty of fodder again this season.

The Desmanthus that did well in its first season went dormant over Winter and has not regrown very much since.  I will investigate some Acacia species to see if they will provide direct fodder for my goats.

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.