No Golden Guernsey show this year as society struggles for numbers

However, the Royal Golden Guernsey Goat Breed Society has been struggling to survive.

The goat breed has been shown at the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society Show at Saumarez Park for over 40 years.

But in recent years, despite having displays, there have not been enough entries to justify having ‘a proper golden show’, and a meeting earlier this week confirmed there would be no golden Guernsey show again this year.

‘There’s so many entries for a show, and a lot of those entries we would just have zero goats for,’ said Royal Golden Goat Breed Society president Keith Opie.

With 180 golden goats currently on the island, the society is facing challenges in maintaining interest and numbers.

The committee thinks this is due to the commitment it takes to keep and breed the goats, but they are hopeful that a new generation will show interest.

Mr Opie said it was encouraged to see three new young members present at the meeting this week.

‘There’s been a boost because we’ve got Royal accreditation now,’ he said.

‘We’re hoping that that will translate and we’ll actually get more people involved and interested in them, as well as keeping and showing the goats.

‘I think, perhaps, in the 80s, there were more people who were self-sufficient, but the golden breed is ideal for a small holding or family.

‘They’re even-tempered, they’re easy to deal with and they provide a nice quantity of milk.’

The Royal Golden Guernsey Goat is a rare dairy breed, distinguished by its golden skin and hair, which range in hue from pale blond to deep bronze, and by its pleasant temperament.

People will still have a chance to see them this year at various mixed breed and cattle shows.

At the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society Show on 24 July, they will be in the young stock show – among other breeds of goats up to the age of two.

They will also appear later on in the summer, at the main show, which Mr Opie will be judging.

Rebecca Martin, a member of the society, keeps 10 goats, seven golden Guernseys and three with a golden parent.

Among them is Tamsin, who rose to fame last year when she met King Charles and received a golden bell and the royal title for the breed.

‘Goats can be hard work, but they are so rewarding,’ she said.

‘There is a little something extra special about the goldens for me, personally.’

Miss Martin’s mum, Linda Martin, died at the end of last year.

She was secretary of the breed society and started breeding golden Guernseys in the 1980s.

From then on she enjoyed showing and breeding them at all the local shows and now Miss Martin continues to look after them.

‘Mum had goats before she had me and my brother, so we have grown up with them, and now so is my son.

‘They give us so much back. They taught us responsibility and care from a young age, as well as providing a drop of milk for the household.’