Photo: RNZ/Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
"I'm more of a milk person. I like the big milkers" says North Canterbury stud breeder and goat judge Ray Messervy.
Ray has been farming goats for nearly 50 years, ever since his daughter, who suffered from chronic eczema, was told by the family doctor to try goat's milk. Ray went out and bought a milking doe and, after drinking the milk for three weeks, his daughter's eczema disappeared. Since then the Amberley man has been goat mad.
Having been a race horse breeder and trainer prior to getting into goats it was the breeding, genealogy and bloodline of the animals that interested Ray.
His main focus is the Sable Saanan breed. They are the white saanan goat with the a sable colour bred into it. His doe 'Strontian Gayre' won Top Lactation Doe of the Year in 2018. "She's milked over 2000 litres in a year," he says proudly. Ray also took out the New Zealand dairy goat industry's Breeder of Excellence award.
