Goat Fest promised to be a festival with a lot of goats, and boy did it deliver. 

With a 50-strong goat army lining the walls of the Inveresk horse pavilion, Launceston’s most passionate goat lovers turned out in their droves to see live milking demonstrations, Angora judgings and wool classing discussions. 

An array of goat’s milk products were also on display, with Karen Bramich’s Milk the Goat soap range proving particularly popular with crowds. 

“I milk my own goats and I use my fresh milk to make it,” Mrs Bramich said. 

“I’ve only been selling my soaps for the last year but I've been testing them out on friends previously to that.

“Goat’s milk is great for eczema and psoriasis and then I've added a couple of scents to them so I have a honey and oatmeal, I have a hand cleansing one with poppy seeds and then I do lotions and body wash.”

Mrs Bramich said she had spent many hours perfecting the formula.

“It took quite some time, there's a bit of science involved in the recipes.

“Some of them truly did not work and I couldn't sell them or use them, but you just keep changing things around and finally I've ended up with a good product.” 

A Robur Farm milk and cheese tasting stall made sure no-one went home hungry, with TasFoods chief sales and marketing officer David Bennett helping give visitors insight into the world of goat’s milk products. 

“There's a different flavour to it but our goat’s milk products are really smooth creamy and sweet,” Mr Bennett said.

“They have such a nice clean flavour that works really well for people who like cow’s milk as well, it doesn’t have some of the flavours that some people associate with goat’s milk, it’s really clean and mild tasting.”

Mr Bennett said goat’s milk could be used for anything from baking to pouring on cereal.  

“It’s fantastic for using as any milk and some people find it easier to digest and that’s why a lot of people use it as a natural alternative to cow's milk.

“There's such a great potential for goat’s milk products and we want to explore that and we're excited by that.” 

LAUNCESTON’S HOST CLAIM 

Now in its ninth year, the festival has previously been held in Hobart and Campbell Town, with 2017 marking the event’s first time in Launceston.

Goat Fest organising committee member Steven Baldock said organisers would assess the location for next year’s festival in the coming weeks. 

“We'll be having a review meeting after this and see where we go from here, whether we have it up here or move it somewhere else,” Mr Baldock said.  

“By the look of it if people are happy to come along to this one we might leave it here perhaps, we'll see how it goes.” 

Mr Baldock said he was thrilled to see so many goat lovers united under one roof.

“What we've tried to do is get all the Angoras, Boer goats, miniatures and dairy goats all together, so this is our annual day where we get together and do demonstrations.

“You've only got to look at the crowd - you don't come to a specialist goat event if you're not passionate about goats do you?”

Launceston’s William Bowden was one of many punters visiting Goat Fest for the first time - an experience he said had more than lived up to expectations. 

“It’s very entertaining, charming, and it’s really nice to see that even though Launceston is quite a small city, its rural nature is really very strong,” Mr Bowden said.

“This kind of thing brings the country into the city which is think is a great thing.

“For tourism this is a good thing as well I think - to be able to say to someone ‘there's a goat festival on’, I think it’s great.”