Forest Fibre Sheep Goats
CAPRICOPIA FARM for Wiltshire Horn sheep, dairy and fibre goats. It is the farm behind Smudge Soap (handmade with fresh goats milk) and Puck and Dougal Wool specialising in Mohair
Anglo Nubian and Snubian GoatsMidge (left) was the foundation of our small herd of dairy goats. She was the first to kid on the farm in 2013. We have had over 50 kids born on the farm since then.
Her line is carried on till today through daughter Midget (2017), Granddaughter Molly (2019) and Great Granddaughter Midnight (2021). Smudge (right) was the foundation of our soap business when she started producing 4l of milk per day in 2014. Her line is carried on through Lucky (2016) Sandy (2019) and Sinderella (2021) |
We chose Wiltshire sheep as they are classed as a heritage breed (some say they date them back to Roman times) and almost became extinct because of the very reason we chose them, their ability to shed their wool. The breed fell out of favour in the UK during the nineteenth century when the price of wool soared and wool sheep became more profitable. The breed was saved from extinction by a small group of enthusiastic breeders who formed the Wiltshire Horn Sheep Society in 1923. Wiltipoll sheep have been developed in Australia over the last 20 years to create a polled variety of the self-shedding Wiltshire Horn suitable for heavy lamb production. Because they don’t grow wool, their energy is directed to growing meat and milk. Compared with other sheep, the Wiltipoll is a prolific breeder and unlike many other sheep breeds, twins, triplets and even quadruplets are common. Ewes will only breed once a year and because they are seasonal breeders, we can leave the ram in with the ewes.