Goat Island Part I
Thanks for the photo by David Stoll.
From David Drake’s Facebook post:
“Regie Fry was the originator of Goat Island. He lived in Harbor Point when it first opened and obtained permission in the early 1970’s to put the first group of goats on the island, 2 Billy’s and 10-12 nanny’s. They lasted 30 plus years had many babies and kept it full of goats (occasional thinning) with only winter feeding by volunteers like Regie and others in Harbor Point and Aztec Cove. Sonny Johnson helped Regie and picked up the feeding after Regie died. The previous goats that were taken or killed were those Regie and friends put there and the offspring kid goats. Just a little history for those that didn’t know or remember. Regie was a great guy and loved his community and the goats. However, he understood they needed thinning about every 5 years or so as the Island can only sustain so many.”
Thanks for the photo by David Stoll.
From community lore:
On July 29th 2017 a gentleman was camping on the island with a pack of 7 dogs. During the course of the night these dogs attacked and killed or mortally wounded every goat on the island. Texas Parks and Wildlife filed a charge against him for failure to control his animal, for leash law violation. This was a very sad part of the history of goat island. For more information you can click on the following links:
Thanks for the photo by David Stoll.
https://www.ktre.com/story/36102276/dozen-goats-killed-by-dogs-on-goat-island-in-lake-livingston/
https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/animals/dogs-kill-a-dozen-goats-on-goat-island/285-461763677
https://www.ktre.com/2018/12/01/ffa-students-groveton-high-school-help-repopulate-goat-island/
Goat Island Part II
In October of 2018 a committee was formed to repopulate the island. After obtaining permission from the TRA the committee purchased 1 Billy goat and 10 nannies and on Dec 2nd 2018 they were brought to the island. Unfortunately 2018 carried with it an extremely cold and wet winter. At that time there wasn’t a shelter on the island and the goats were unfamiliar with how to survive on the island having just come from a farm. We didn’t know it at the time but these Spanish Goats were mixed with Boer Goats and they didn’t have much in the way of parasite resistance. This is when it became clear that there was an a issue. As the secretary of the Goat Island Committee and living so close to the island I was able to check on the goats frequently. Within a few months they started looking very thin and sickly. With the help of Ron Crone and other members of the committee, the early barn was built but this didn’t seem to solve all of our problems.
This is when we first realized that the island contained many parasites including barber pole worms, fluke worms and goat lice. The animals were getting increasingly sick and some died. It was then decided that they were going to need assistance. After many worming treatments and daily feedings, the goats bounced back. It was clear that this group of goats would need regular human interaction to survive on the island. Ron and Sharon Crone helped me to treat these goats as best as we could but the decision was made that ultimately the Boer goats would need to be removed from the island and replaced with a more parasite resistant breed. In October of 2020, after nearly 2 years on the island, this group of goats was taken to a 10 acre local rescue farm.
Goat Island Part III
Next we had to find a better breed of goat. Chris McNiff, Alice Lankford and James Kelley joined me to bring a new herd of goats to the island. Chris Mcniff and I got to work on building a bigger and better goat barn. We did a lot of goat research to see what breeds would fare the best on the island. I wanted all Spanish just like the originals. Chris wanted to give the Kiko breed a go, because of their excellent reputation for parasite resistance. In the end we got a mix of both to see what would do better on the island. The Spanish/Kiko/Superior Juniper goats arrived, November 21st. This is the group that is currently on the island. We call this group the Harbor Point Goats because of the donations and tremendous support we’ve received from that community.
The Harbor Point Goats:
These goats are from the Koda Ranch in Texas.
Some of them were part of the super juniper eating goat project. They used genetics technology to select only the goats that were able to survive and thrive eating the pest plants in this study. They are very hardy goats. They are mostly a mix of Spanish/Kiko/Angora but were modified to exact specific traits.
We have a 100% pure blood Kiko Billy, and a Spanish Billy. Two of the Juniper dams were exposed to a 100% Syfan Black Spanish Billy and both of them delivered the first round of babies in January 2021. The nannies were a part of a package deal we got when we purchased our Kiko Billy and they were meant to be very parasite resistant and able to survive on their own. This time I decided to worm the Nannies when they first arrived on the island and for the first year. The first year was a bit of a transition period for the new herd and we watched them closely.
What was great about the original goats from the 70’s is that they were worm resistant. I don’t know if that has something to do with the pure blood of the goats or that there were not as many worms on the island at that time? Maybe it was just that they had 50 years to gain strong resistance as the weak ones died and the strong survived. In any case those goats were really adjusted to life on the island and they thrived.
Unfortunately worms remain a problem. Even the current Spanish goats will get wormy when they are kidding. The Kiko pure goats goats seem to be the hardiest we have tried, so far. The kids that our Kiko Billy produces are solid and healthy. In the 70’s I am not sure what pure breed goats cost but today they are not cheap by any standard. For this reason we only have a handful of pure bloods on the island, so far. The rest are Spanish but without papers. As the goats breed the blood lines get stronger and the new kids adapt to island life better than their mothers before them. These “new goats” require monitoring and a bit more care. With each costing in the hundreds of dollars, it is financially important to ensure that they are able to thrive. Right now the tricky thing is figuring out who will have resistance and who won’t, then swapping out goats until we have a group that can become a wild herd surviving for years to come.