First, they don’t smell like sheep – need I say more? When you tell people that you have goats you can get some strange reactions. Sometimes you can see it on people’s faces that they are instantly being reverted back to the smell of the last stinky petting zoo they went to. Nothing against petting zoos- but a whole barn crammed full of pygoras do not smell like anything close to that! Now there is one exception when pygoras can have a smell… If it is in the months of April to May and October to November and you have breeding bucks it can smell. Of course the bucks think that their own special perfume will make all females worship them as gods although I can tell you that it doesn’t work at all on the human variety!

Size

Second, they are smaller than most sheep and other goats which makes them more fun as pets especially if you have small children. Their smallness also makes it easier to do regular hoof trimming as they don’t have as much weight to try and push you over with! You can see in the picture to the left one of our smaller pygoras, Windy next to the 12" tall gnome.

Fiber

Third, pygora fleece doesn’t have lanolin in it like sheep fleece. And they do not produce wool; you know that itchy scratchy stuff that so many people are allergic to. Because pygoras are a breed created from mixing angora goats and little pygmy goats (which is why pygoras are smaller than other goats) they produce 3 main different types of fleece. These three types are called A, B, and C.

Type A is the longer ringlet type that is closest to its angora foremother. The ringlets are usually over 5 inches long. It’s a very silky, shiny and cool to the touch. It’s like the ringlet hair that every little girl who watched Shirley Temple or Nellie Olsen on 'Little House on the Prairie' has grown up dreaming about.

Type C is soft and fluffy with a short, crimpy look to it and is usually between 1 to 3 inches long. Pygoras with this type of coat kinda look like a fuzzy cotton ball as their coat is more matte. Type C is closest to its pygmy ancestors but its fiber can be sold as commercial cashmere. When you feel the goats with Type C fiber it’s like hugging a cloud or that favorite stuffed animal you had as a kid because it has that warm and creamy handle.

As you may have guessed by now, Type B is a combination of A and C. This type is truly unlike any other fiber known. It has a luster when you look at it and a soft, airy feel to it. Some pygoras with Type B have some ringlets and others just don’t. They don’t have the pretentious look of the Type A’s and they don’t look like the Type C huge puff balls either.

Now there are also combinations of the three fleece types such as A/B or B/C. None of the three main types is better than the others it really just depends on which you prefer. We have all three main fleece types and we love all them as they each have their own benefits.

To read more about pygora fiber click here.

Personality

Lastly, and most importantly of all though is the pygora’s personality. People keep pygoras for a lot of different reasons, primarily fiber although also for browsers and meat and milk producers. But we keep them for their personality. We don’t understand how anyone could eat them after they have spent any amount of time with them and their bouncing and prancing around. All you have to do is throw a hay bale in the middle of the pasture and it is an instant jumping game of ‘king-of-the-mountain’. We can’t wait to get our playground completed with our new barn this spring with a teeter-totter, caves, rocks and ramps. We originally started with pygoras for fiber but now they are most importantly our pets. They are fun and spunky and hilarious pets!