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Pasture-hardy strain has been improved 35 generations by Robert and Doris Kensing, who are now passing the Baton to David Whitworth
Before the meat goat business took off, back when Texas ranchers kept Spanish goats around to eat brush and to occasionally slaughter for a barbecue or to feed hired hands, Robert Kensing was planning on taking the tough brush goat to a new level. Texas Spanish pasture goats were already very hardy from natural selection, since the goats were expected to survive on the ranch with little care and no supplemental feeding. Kensing saw potential in the goat as a commercial meat animal and in 1972 he set out to build a herd.
Robert and Doris Kensing's original Spanish goats came from Hext, Texas.
"I selected 15 does out of a herd of 250. We started with good ones and a good selection program kept us making improvement in both production quality and uniformity," Robert said. "We started our herd in 1972 and have never bought a female goat since that time. We did buy the best bucks we could find, but for the last 15 years we have been using a line-breeding system with our own raising. So far it is working to our satisfaction."
The Kensings are now 35 goat generations into their breeding program and the results are impressive. Robert and Doris are passing their know-how and many of their breeding goats on to nephew David Whitworth who ranches near Junction, Texas. David plans to continue to select and improve the animals to at least 50 generations of Kensing Spanish goats.
"I recently acquired all of Robert Kensing's 3-, 4- and 5-year old nannies," Whitworth said. Some...