When Western region teacher Kerry Pinnell starts talking about her kids – both the twolegged and four-legged variety – she can’t help but sound extraordinarily proud.

The agriculture coordinator and her students have worked together over an incredible 27 years to build one of the most highly accredited goat studs in Australia.

The Cabalo Angora Stud and Cabalo Dairy Goat Stud are part of Canobolas Rural Technology High School at Orange. Ms Pinnell started the flock in 1981 with a $100 Angora doe bought with money raised through a student raffle. Today, the herd boasts 100 animals.

The dairy stud, which began in 1993 as a natural progression of the fleece herd, is populated with Saanen (a Swiss breed), British Alpine and Anglo-Nubian goats.

Showing the animals at the Sydney Royal Easter Show each year is a highlight for the students and their teacher (Ms Pinnell has clocked up 25 consecutive Royal Easter shows). This year, the school came away with a record 101 ribbons.

The thrill of winning a ribbon always makes Ms Pinnell realise that “it’s been worth getting dirty and putrid, which happens quite frequently”.

While Ms Pinnell is modest about her efforts, she has demonstrated great foresight over the years. In 1988, she made a decision that eventually allowed Cabalo to export overseas. The flock started being tested for two particular diseases, leading to accreditation that not only allows Cabalo goats to head overseas but also to travel around Australia with minimal quarantining or blood-testing.

“It’s a good selling point,” Ms Pinnell says.

There is also an artificial insemination (AI) program at Cabalo, which has led to the school forging links with Taronga Park Zoo. The zoo uses Cabalo stud semen to reinvigorate its closed-herd bloodlines. Canobolas Rural Technology High students don’t bat an eyelid helping with these procedures.

“It’s all run of the mill for our students,” Ms Pinnell says.

However, the students are always thrilled when there’s the prospect of a new “kid” on the block.

“We’ve had four sets of triplets born to the Anglo-Nubians over the past couple of weeks,” she says. “We have a line-up of children waiting to see what’s coming out next.”

Ms Pinnell says she’s impressed with how seriously students take their responsibilities towards the flock.

“They’ll come and say to me, ‘Oh Miss, this one’s waters have broken – you better get your gear’. They can pick up the signs now. Or they’ll say, ‘So-and-so’s dripping milk – she’ll probably kid tomorrow’. They’re pretty switched on.”

Her students pick up much more than animal husbandry skills (the school also offers horse management, poultry, horticulture and a pet-care program).

By the time they leave school, they have a firm grasp of livestock management regimes that include cutting-edge practices such as AI, ultrasound, embryo transfers and scanning of the goats’ fine 22-micron fleece.

The students also gain great insight into a successful export business. “I send a lot of our dairy goat bucks to Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea [for breeding programs],” says Ms Pinnell.

Some of these overseas buyers come to the stud to inspect the stock, and in 2006 a team of Chinese vets and research scientists travelled to the school to learn how to set up a model dairy goat farm in Yunnan Province.

Mixing with Cabalo’s industry visitors – even down to the Tasmanian shearer for whom the students work as rouseabouts – has boosted the students’ maturity and personal skills.

“Having a lot of outside people come in, they need their social skills, observational skills and need to evaluate, analyse and act on situations,” Ms Pinnell says.

Ms Pinnell’s proudest moments are not just the ribbons that adorn her classroom and the school’s foyer. She’s also pleased when she comes across former students working as vets, stock and station agents, auctioneers, stud managers and the like.

As the woman behind a championship goat stud, some might wonder why Ms Pinnell sticks to teaching instead of starting her own stud.

“That question has been asked many times – I don’t know the answer,” she says with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t leave because of all my animals.”