Rare livestock breeds have always held a special place in the heart of Countryfile’s Adam Henson. His passion was sparked early on by his father, Joe Henson, who introduced Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs to their family farm in Gloucestershire and opened the Cotswold Farm Park to the public in 1971.
Now, Adam continues to manage the farm alongside his television career. Recently, he joyfully welcomed a dozen newborn Golden Guernsey goats, a breed he describes as “small and nimble” with large, forward-pointing ears that give them a friendly and comical charm. While their milk is prized for its quality, Golden Guernseys are not typically found in supermarkets due to their low productivity, making them rare and often uneconomical for farmers to raise.
Adam’s admiration for this breed deepened as he shared the sobering history of their survival. During World War II, Golden Guernseys were native only to the Channel Islands. When the German occupation cut off Guernsey, rationing became severe, and much livestock was slaughtered for meat. The breed was already scarce, and a remarkable woman named Miriam Milbourne took a courageous stand to save them.
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Fearing the breed’s extinction, Miriam hid the goats in her home, risking her life under occupation. Adam discovered during his research for his book, A Breed Apart, that the goats were concealed within her rooms at L’Ancresse. After the war, Miriam successfully bred over 30 Golden Guernseys by the 1950s. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the breed began to spread into England, with the British Goat Society establishing the Golden Guernsey register in 1971.
Despite these efforts, Golden Guernseys remain at risk; the Rare Breed Survival Trust’s 2024-25 Watchlist classifies them as an ‘at risk’ breed. However, the breed received a prestigious boost this year when, during the Royal Visit to Guernsey, King Charles III and Queen Camilla bestowed the title “Royal Golden Guernsey Goat.” Christopher Price, Chief Executive of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and a patronage of the King, praised this as “wonderful recognition” for the breed.
Ultimately, it’s thanks to Miriam Milbourne’s dedication that Golden Guernseys survived such peril. Adam calls her story “remarkable and worthy of any Hollywood action movie.”
Watch Adam Henson on Countryfile this Sunday, May 31, from 6.15pm to 7.15pm on BBC One.