Old Nan the High Blean super goat is of an undetermined age but is believed to be over 15, making her a very old lady and deserving of her sobriquet “Super Goat”.
I am a Super Goat!
Owned and lovingly cared for by Bill Akrigg, Old Nan has lived at High Blean since being bred here by Ken Ashton, some time in the 1990s.
Old Nan gets special treatment due to her favoured status and is over wintered in a stable and fed on a lavish diet, before being let out to enjoy the new season grass in spring time.
When Bill was telling me that Old Nan, has in previous years, come into milk to feed young lambs, I thought he was trying to pull one over on me. However, confirmation by a neighbouring farmer bears out this remarkable phenomena. Apparently, due to the strong maternal instincts of Old Nan, Bill has been able to raise a number of lambs that would otherwise have died. One year, there being no orphan lambs to raise, Old Nan even took to kidnapping a lamb from one of the ewes in the same field.
Bill with Old Nan
While Bill gets ribbed that this goat should long-ago have been served as curry, he is determined to let Old Nan live out the remainder of her life, in the field next to where she was born, enjoying the sun on her back and the sweet grass of Raydale.
