Hay River farming institute overrun with cute cashmere goats

The Northern Farm Training Institute in Hay River, N.W.T.,has a lot more cashmere goats than it bargained for.

The institute purchased 19 goats last summer from a farmer advertising them on Kijiji. But many of the animalswere pregnant, and now the number of goats at the institute has grown to 28, with more on the way.

"We knew that it wasn't our feed that was making them get them that way," said Thomas Schenkel, the animal manager at the institute.

"So the inevitable conclusion was that they had been bred without our knowing."

It's the latest headache for Schenkel. Initially corralling the goats after purchase proved a two-hour ordeal.

"They were just wild, running along the river, jumping fences, going into the neighbours' yards," said Schenkel. "I had no herding dog, no horse, so I had to do all the running myself."

He sayshe had to wrestle each goat into his trailer individually.

So why go to all the trouble?

Schenkel says cashmere goats are known for their fibres and their milk and are very good at improving pastures and clearing land by eating willows and saplings.

Still, the institute plans to sell some of the goats, complete withfree consultations.

And not pregnant.