Meet Our Members

A collection of people from all walks of life, and we all have one thing in common; we love goats!!!

Some of our members have goat dairy farms and make their living from these wonderful animals. Others have small herds where they milk for pleasure to make cheese and goats milk soap.

Others use their goats as a form of animal therapy, introducing them to care homes and allowing hands on contact with these gentle creatures. Goats Galore is one of the animal charities we support and one of our members has made over 150 coats for her goats from recycled materials.

Some members are retired now and some have never owned a goat but one thing is for sure…

We all love goats and EVERYONE is welcome!!!

Diane WORSLEY

President of the Harness Goat Society

Diane has been a member of the HGS for many years supporting the society by taking her goats out and about to various shows over the years.

Wendy & Martin GRANTHAM

HGS Secretary

Wendy & Martin are from Oxford, they have a small herd of Golden Guernsey goats. Wendy makes delicious goats milk cheese. Read more about Wendy on the blog.

Sally & Derek DIXON

Editor

Sally and Derek live in Somerset with their three goats Quinn, Branston and Denoso. Read more about their day trip to Eastbourne on our blog.

Email Sally and Derek: harnessgoats@gmail.com.

Lin & Tony MACRAE

HGS Member

Lin Welcome Officer

Lin and Tony live in Devizes. They have a small herd of Golden Guernsey goats. Lin uses their milk for making soap along with some delicious pastries and cakes. Lin has been very successful showing her goats at different competitions around the south west of England.

Paul WIGZEL

Publicity Officer

Paul our Publicity officer with his goat Hedd at Machen Show Wales 2015. Paul has been very successful in his partnership with Hedd at regional and national shows. Paul did not breed Hedd but he moved into Paul’s herd when he was 2 years old. A few years later his previous owner attended a show, Paul offered her the opportunity to show him. “No” she said, “he never showed for me like he does for you, look at him, where ever you walk his eyes are following you”. Paul and his goats attend many agricultural shows and events now, educating people of pygmy goats. Hedd is rarely, if ever, on a lead, he follows Paul like a devoted dog. Sadly he is aging and Paul knows that each day is a bonus.

Jean BAMFORD

Retired President of the Harness Goat Society

Jean is President of the HGS. Jean has shown various breeds of goat at shows up and down the country for many years. This is Jean with Emba her Golden Guernsey at Frampton Country Fair in 2018.

Marion WHITE

South West Area Representative

Marion has been a HGS member for many years. Her passion is making coats for goats. In 2018 Marion held an exhibition of the coats that she has made from recycled materials. She has made in excess of 150!!

Alex RUBIRA

HGS Member

“I keep a mini dairy herd of Nubian and English nannies on my family’s smallholding in Swanwick, Southampton where we make soap and and a variety of cheeses which I one day hope to sell. I am very passionate about small-scale high welfare dairy so any excuse to put surplus boys to work rather than slaughter is a plus! Currently my harness goat in training is a Nubian-English cross called Adso. Hope he comes in handy hauling firewood and helping with the local apple harvest!”

Kitley LANE

HGS Member

Kitley is from Kent spending time with some of her rescue goats.

“Ive always liked goats, but have kept sheep and cattle most of my life. My partner and I have talked about getting goats a lot and last summer we decided it was something we were going to do. So we bought two in kid Toggenburg does from a commercial dairy. They gave us four lovely kids, one of which we’ve kept (Andromeda). Unfortunately we lost one of the girls. But we’re able to buy a couple crossed does to keep the other company. We have decided that this is the last year we are going to put her in kid, so have been looking into ways she can enjoy her retirement from kidding. She loves going for walks with me and my children, so we thought that once this year’s kids have been weaned we would try to harness train her.”

GEORGE BRISTRANSIN

USA Rep, point of contact

George has a small farm where he keeps goats and chickens including Rodrigo pictured. George lives in Amenia New York.

Liz

HGS Member

Liz with her goats Bertie and Phil June 2019.

Angela RICKERBY

Angela has been a member since 1987. Angela lives in Worcester along with her goats, sheep, dogs and various other animals.

Debra Chennels

Debra lives in Wales with her therapy goats. Read more about Debra on the blog.

Jane Lake

HGS Member

Jane is one of the longest serving members of the Harness Goat Society joining back in 1988. Read about Jane on the blog.

Pat Newman

South and southeast England Representative

Pat is pictured having a ride in the cart at Meals on Wheels at Fordingbridge.

Derek & Janet Humphries

Registration Secretary

Derek lives in Somerset. He is our registration secretary and records any new harness goats to our register.

Barbara Le Gallez

HGS Member

Barbara with her goats Sampson and Julian. Read more about them on the blog Herd name Shamba.

Anna & Anne

Members & Supporters of the Society

Anna is a very talented artist who specialises in pastel portraits. See more of her animal portraits on the blog & find out how to order a portrait on the merchandise page.

Celia & Alan BOWEN

Treasurer

Celia and Alan live in Dorset with their milking herd.

Linda VINTCENT

HGS Member

Linda at work with some of the many goats that she is responsible for milking each day.

Linda Joined Frazer & Rachel on their farm back in 2016 to help milk their herd of dairy goats. Linda has a wealth of experience working with animals and spent most of her career as a stud manager. She has kept a flock of Wiltshire horned sheep and has run her own dog grooming business over the past 20 years.

Read more about the milker (Linda) on Frazer & Rachel’s website

www.nortonandyarrow.co.uk

Sue Sabin

HGS Member

I live on a smallholding near Banbury. I have 3 goats, 2 pigs and numerous chickens. I retired from teaching last August and since 1st September 2020 I have been totally self-sufficient;

No waste, no packaging, no food miles. My goats give me milk which I have come to love over and above cow’s milk. I make simple cheeses and yogurt, and of course milk is used in much food preparation. Any surplus milk goes to the pigs.

I bought my first Toggenburgs as goatlings. They produced 5 offspring in 2019 and one of these is Alan my now two-year-old pack and hopefully harness goat. I have learned quite a bit about pack-goating from the American ‘packgoats.com‘ site and have had a go at making his pack saddle. It’s not great! I have also made him a pulling harness and had a go at pulling a block of wood; needs work! I started looking for someone in the UK who was doing this to try to get some help and came across your society. I am looking forward to sharing information and ideas with like-minded people.

I have an ‘egg round’ in my village and Alan carries the eggs for me in my old bicycle panniers. It works …to a point. On our return home I always take off his saddle and let him free. It is glorious to have him with me.

Nicola Jowett

HGS Member

My name is Nicola and I live in Lincolnshire with my daughter Grace. My mum has kept goats for decades and it was upon her suggestion that I purchased Rupert, with a view to training him for harness.
So I collected my very wild, 12 week old Toggenburg baby and one year later we are now inseparable.
Rupert is currently long raining well and I am now introducing him to traffic.
After falling totally in love with Rupert’s character, this year I purchased his full sister Lucy.

Debbie & Shaun Sullivan

HGS Members

Debbie & her Husband Shaun live in Somerset with their growing herd of goats. Currently they have 17 & growing. Read more about Debbie & Shaun on the blog. Meet some of their goats on the meet the goats page.

Emma Sawyer

HGS Member

Read about Emma & Barleylands Farm on the blog page.

Dr. Rosemary Hannah

HGS Member

Scotland/North Rep

Rosemary is pictured here with her Anglo Nubian kid Baji.

Rosemary lives in East Ayrshire with a small herd of Anglo Nubian goats and her wife Sophie keeps the Toggenburg breed. They currently have a small herd of sheep too.

Michelle Tomlin

HGS Member

Michelle lives in the county of Warwickshire with her her goats Saxon & Viking

SHARON SMITH

HGS Member

Sharon lives in North Wales with her herd of rare breed Old English Goats. Her goats work on the farm helping to deliver feed to the other livestock.

CAROLYN & KEVIN BEAN

HGS Members

Carolyn & Kevin Bean live in Carmarthenshire with their herd of 16 goats. Carolyn enjoys making dolls and spending time with her animals

MARIE CRAWFORD

HGS Member

Marie Crawford with her Handsome Golden Guernsey goat Vincent. Marie lives in Wrexham with her three Golden Guernsey goats, three Alpacas and her rescue dog.

REBECCA & LEIGH JOHNSON

HGS Members

Rebecca & Leigh live in Witham, Essex with their two Anglo Nubian goats, Mary & Martha.