The quality keeps improving year after year, and the judge was very impressed by the confirmation of the alpacas, as they had good frames to go with the good quality of fibre. He is a good Suffolk, with a good carcase, good confirmation and clean colours. The judge liked his fleece, with its crimp and character and density, all on a superb frame, with good bone and substance. With more horses, cattle, sheep and alpacas than ever before, the show s judges had their work cut out finding a...

Having grown up on a farm, she left Covington County in search of opportunity as a young girl fresh out of college only to find herself come full circle after retirement. With degrees from several universities, including the University of Montevallo, the University of Alabama, Pace University and Troy University to name a few, in subjects as varied as English, biology, psychology and business, Gantt is intellectually armed to meet any challenge and she has the personality to back up her...

If the national flock declines to the 1907 level, as predicted, that will mean there will be just four sheep for every person this year. THE drought has driven the nation's sheep flock towards a 100-year low. Back then, Australia's population was about four million, meaning there were about 20 sheep for every man, woman and child. Alan Edgar dug out figures from the family records showing that in 1907 their property ran 3000 sheep. The last time numbers neared this mark was 1907, when the...

A "carder," the person charged with brushing and separating the wool, fluffs it as much as possible, then hands it over to one of several spinners, who feeds it into a large wooden wheel that transforms it into yarn. It begins with a mound of raw fleece, which for the local competition came courtesy of sheep near Marysville. Another member of the team then "plies" two or more pieces of yarn together before it goes onto the loom and is knitted or woven into the final product. Like livestock...

Angora goats are just part of the animal array at Old Goat Farm, where chickens, ducks and peacocks also strut and stroll about. A shady sitting area against one wall of the old barn is a perfect place to display some of the old tools that came with the farm. This curious peacock is just part of the menagerie of chickens, goats, ducks and other peacocks at the farm. The planting style at Old Goat Farm is unabashedly romantic, as in this pink, red and purple border softening a shed built in...