Contrary to popular belief, goats will not eat any old rubbish. In fact they're particularly choosy, preferring the best quality hay. Just one of the myths debunked by top Herefordshire goat keeper Maggi Franklin in her new book. ROY Lewis finds out more . . .

HE doorstep pinta - or lack of one - forced Maggi Franklin to start keeping goats.

After moving to her isolated smallholding, which nestles 1,073 ft up the mountainside near Michaelchurch Escley, she had to order milk days in advance and then trek a couple of miles to get it.

A cow would produce too much milk so she decided on a goat and, since that small beginning, her enthusiasm for the animals has never waned.

In fact, it has grown and grown and Maggi - a stickler for perfection - is now accepted as an authority in the goat world, particularly with regard to her favourite breed, the Anglo Nubian whose history goes back to the 1800s.

From her 400-year-old holding, Tanners Place, she has bred and exported goats to many places in the world, supplied them to royalty, scooped local and national awards.

Her latest venture has been to write a practical guide to keeping and breeding the animals.

Maggi names her goats after herbs and spices and decided on the name Tygronon for her herd prefix as it was the original name of the holding.

But while she and a band of goat keepers in Herefordshire are as enthusiastic and loyal as ever, the number of goat-keepers in the county is nothing like it was a decade or two ago.

Goat-keeping also suffered a major blow from the foot and mouth epidemic and the subsequent red tape associated with keeping the animals.

Tagging, for instance, is another essential that the goat keeper will have to deal with.

"The boom was in the '80s and early '90s, since when enthusiasm has waned," Maggi laments.

"When I started there were a lot of young people interested. Now there is the odd youngster of 13 or 14 but, generally, teenagers don't want to devote their time looking after a goat twice a day and 365 days a year.

"It's just too much bother and work when there are so many other attractions and I find that at some shows there is not the same interest.

"We might have 12 in a class while we used to have to split them into four different classes of the same number."

The dwindling popularity has affected membership of Herefordshire Goat Club, too. "Membership is small at about 25, but 20 attend meetings and outings and the members are brilliant, catering for pygmies and big milkers," says Maggi.

While there is some interest in eating goat in certain sections of society, the main product of the dairy animal is milk, which is more digestible than cows' milk.

Maggi admits that commercial goat-keeping for milk has taken off more than she thought it would 3 2 and points out that there is a growing demand for goat cheese which has become a designer food with leading chefs.

For most dedicated keepers, however, the export market is probably the most profitable and Maggi's most recent order is for a male and female for Bermuda.

Her reputation stems from winning all the eligible awards offered by the British Goat Society and having bred the highest lactation worker of the Anglo Nubian breed ever in 1993.

THE latest advancement in goat-keeping is artificial insemination but, unfortunately, the success rate is not often as good as some producers hope for.

"Good stud goats are still sought after because, apart from its poor success rate, artificial insemination is expensive and requires a high health status," Maggi explains.

"Other countries such as Holland do use it a good deal and so some producers in this country are keen to take part in the interests of advancement and making some money."

Fortunately, in the Herefordshire area some excellent stud goats are to still be found, although their numbers have dwindled.

"When I started with Anglo Nubians there was an ample number of people keeping stud goats," says Maggi.

"We ran three for a breeding season and now I just run one.

"Nowadays you can count on one hand the breeders in the area who keep stud goats."

But Maggi is optimistic. She says the popularity of keeping and breeding goats has experienced good and bad periods in and she is hopeful of a resurgence in the future.

In Herefordshire there are still a lot of skilled producers with extensive knowledge, excellent management credentials and capable of doing a lot of work that goats require.

Maggi says she is always happy to give help and advice to novice goat keepers and urges them to join their local goat society.

Since she stated keeping goats in 1972, Maggi has held various posts with the county society and regularly shows and judges at top events.

She also serves on the British Goat Society committee.

All this has been fitted in around a busy home life with husband Harry and daughter Gabrielle.

Bleat all about it . . .

Maggi Franklin's book Goats for Beginners, is a practical guide to keeping and breeding goats, in the Gold Cockerel Series.

Full of illustrations, the publication is geared around dairy goats but other breeds are not ignored.

Written in an easy, 'user friendly' style, the handy publication, produced with the help from Maggi's family and friends, should give confidence to those in the earlier stages of their goat-keeping careers as well as the more seasoned producers.

It's even worth a look if you're at the "considering" stage, with questions to ask yourself before you get your first animal.

For goat keepers, a whole chapter is dedicated to questions and answers - and is followed by a short question and answer chapter for the non goat keeper!

With a list of helpful addresses at the back, it's just the thing for those starting on a goat keeping career - be it with just one or two animals or a whole herd.

Priced at £9, including postage and packaging, it can be bought from Gold Cockerel Books at Kennerleigh, Crediton, Devon. EX17 4RS.