Doug
BackhurstI am sorry to survey the recent death associated with Doug Backhurst, after a fairly lengthy illness. It is a lack of one of our old period goat characters, and many those who kept goats in the 1971s, 80, and 90s will certainly remember Doug.
His spouse Pam bred the Norbrook herd of dairy goats. They lived in Normandy, very close to us right here. At that time there were we keeping goats in a very little area, and we all utilized to help each other out, goat sitting, check weighing and also helping each other out along with milk supplies to keep away customers going when we had been still able to sell new milk from our holdings.
Pam bred up an excellent masses from a couple of very no descript cross breeds plus established a very useful masses, mostly white AOVs and some BA types that all milked well and were aggressive at the shows. She plus Doug were regular proponents in the local shows. Doug did a lot to help at the shows, bringing a fuel boiler to provide plenty of warm water for us all and coping with the quantities of dairy that would be produced by up to one hundred milkers.
Doug was also MD of his family company, C P Backhurst & Co. This started out as being a small hay and hay merchant but expanded to the general market of pet feeds. Not everyone understood that Doug was extremely qualified in the field of animal nourishment. He developed one of the first, otherwise the first, properly balanced give food to mixes specially designed for dairy products goats, well balanced and with all of the right minerals in the correct proportions. He made up various mixes for the different needs of milking, dry plus growing stock, and the company supplied the mix to numerous goat keepers far and wide.
As well as the concentrate give food to Doug also supplied existe and straw to many people. He sourced wonderful crimson clover hay from maqui berry farmers on the South coast, in which the hay seemed to grow therefore well in the sea atmosphere. He delivered this by lorry load to many goat keepers far and wide across the country. Many of us relied on your pet for this for several years until the maqui berry farmers retired or moved to more profitable crops compared to clover.
The memory associated with Doug brings with it a lot of memories of a golden period for many of us goat owners, and reminds us just how much people of his era contributed, not just towards the goat keeping fraternity but to the community as a whole. I am sure that will members join me within sending our best wishes in order to Pam and the family.
Nick Parr
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