Keith Cowen

Weethalle NSW, ph 0428 756 239

The first 11 years of my life was spent on a dairy farm in the north of England, in 1969 my family moved to Weethalle in Western NSW to manage a wheat and sheep property owned by my Great Uncle. In 1979 I came home to work full time on the family farm and in that year established the Yarran Park Angora Stud.

My work with Jim Watts began in 1989 when Jim became interested in improving the quality and quantity of Mohair on the Angora goat. In 1991 we introduced SRS rams to our merino flock with outstanding results. I have continued to apply SRS principles to both my Angora and Merino flocks and have the largest flock of SRS® Angoras in Australia.

Today I own and manage Yarran Park now covering 1250 ha, I am currently running 1500 merinos, 240 Angora's and plant 500ha of wheat and barley annually. I have worked as an SRS classer for 10 years with both Angora goats and Merino sheep. I have years of experience in livestock health, nutrition and management, pasture improvement and soil health. I hope to bring my expertise in the application of SRS® principles to Angora goats to the Suri Alpaca as the fibre type is very similar.