The Beginnings
The "Topknot" herd of pedigree Boer goats was started in 1998 with the purchase of two 100% Boer kids from Bristol ( a male and a female) to supplement five or six cross-breed dairy goats on the farm that were being used to breed kids for meat.
Embryo Importation from New Zealand
		This tentative start was followed by much more ambitious importation of fullblood Boer embryos from New Zealand which was carried out in October 1999. The ET program was carried out by a veterinary team from NZ and was a great success. The embryo kids were born in Feb/March 2000. 10 kids were born from the 20 embryos implanted and these went on to form the foundation of the herd.
Embryo Transfer in progress
This picture shows 2 fullblood Boer embryo kids with their Anglo Nubian surrogate mother. In all 10 recipient dairy goats were implanted with NZ Boer embryos and 6 went on to produce 10 live embryo kids and these represented three different bloodlines.
Live Animal Importation from Canada
		On February 28th 2007 16 fullblood (purebred) Boer Goats from Canada were finally collected from Heathrow Airport and brought back to the farm. The goats had come from Ray and Ann-Marie Haucks " Ram H Breeders Ltd" stud in Alberta, Canada. They arrived with very thick woolly coats developed for the cold Canadian winter, but they quickly adjusted to life in the East of England. The shipment consisted of 9 traditional Boer does, 1 traditional Boer buck, 3 Red Boer (Kalahari Red) does and 1 Red Boer buck and 2 kids born during their 6 months quarantine period in Canada. These animals represented a significant injection of new blood into the herd and effectively doubled the number of goats on the farm.
Canadian Goats just arrived on farm
		←Canadian Does and Buck at grass in Autumn	Red Buck (Ram H Red Merlot) and Traditional Buck (Ram H Pablo) →
Embryo Importation From Australia
In September 2012 we undertook another embryo transplant program. This time the embryos came from stock in Australia. We must thank Celia Burnett-Smith and her family for making this possible as they collected embryos from some of the best stock in Australia, and Jean and Moozie Van Niekerk of Murray River Genetics for  getting their embryo collection facility EU approved and making the whole thing possible, now that there ia a protocol for importing genetic material from Australia. The embryos were born in February 2013 - 10 kids from 20 embryos again. This time it was a team from Innovis at Malvern that carried out the ET work here. These kids represent a much needed infusion of new blood into the herd and should allow us to keep breeding quality Boer goats for some years to come.
				Fulblood Australian embryo kid with Saanen  surrogate mother.
		←Embryo kids playing	Topknot Oz Sundance at 3½ months old . A very stocky male kid       →
	Australian Sires of some of the embryos
Clearday Park Dominator					Dudauman Park Shaka just in from work in the paddock