Trevor

Trevor, the first (and most well behaved) goat to live on the farm. Trevor was hand-raised, and used to live on the Hibiscus Coast under the name of Yoda. Having outgrown his hippy phase (but remaining the gentle, laid-back buck that we all knew and loved), Trev moved to live with us. Unfortunately hampered by his seasonal bad hygiene, Trev has never been as popular with visitors as our other goats, despite his friendly nature. Trev has now moved to Manukau to live with his new girlfriend.

The East Friesian Ewe Fund - how it all began.

Despite the brilliant milk-producing efforts of Helen and Katie the Saanen does, and my equally brilliant cheese-making efforts, when our electric fence broke and the garden became too tempting for the goats, Mr Farmer put his foot down. The goats had to go, he said. We needed to stick to sheep, since sheep don't demolish fences to demolish vegetable gardens (something of an over-exaggeration; Katie and Helen were just curious, and Trevor the buck had to follow them, because no goat wants to be left alone). After my offers to exchange the goats for a donkey or a pony were rejected, I discovered that sheep milk has a higher milk-solid content than goat milk, and it is traditionally used to make feta, roquefort and pecorino romano. Dairy sheep seemed like an excellent compromise. The best dairy sheep are apparently East Friesians - but these are rare in New Zealand, and cost upwards of $NZ 280 (including GST) each. We need four East Friesian ewes for our cheese-making venture - and so, the East Friesian Ewe Fund was started.