Geograph - photograph every grid square

"Ropey Old Goat" is an exhibit on the sea front at Teignmouth, as part of the TRAIL (Teignmouth Recycled Art In the Landscape) art exhibition Link in 2015.
by the Pump Potteries Link (Archive Link )
Our pottery and mosaic group meets each week at Pumps Pottery in Denbury, which also happens to be home to a small herd of Angora goats. The twine used to fasten bales of straw for the animals bedding has been meticulously saved for years, waiting to find a new purpose… Chatting about these beautiful animals one day, we were saddened to learn that the coarser hair from the older goats’ fleece has very little value and keeping them has become a labour of love rather than a source of income. Smallholders and small to medium scale farmers in general have great difficulty making even a modest living from the land, and yet they are the ones we can rely on most to farm in a soil-friendly and sustainable way. If industry were able to utilise the fleece from the older goats as blends to produce insulating materials for building, this would prevent wastage and help sustain goat keeping as a viable farming option. ROPEY OLD GOAT is a small gesture of support for those farmers and growers who put the welfare of the land and their livestock first. The face has been sculpted in glazed earthenware, but is otherwise constructed almost entirely from recycled materials including wood and chicken wire salvaged from a skip and the allotment, used baler twine and discarded marine rope.