Nuclear nanny goats go

A herd of goats in the Scottish village of Shebster that have been supplying milk samples to the UK's Dounreay site for monitoring purposes is going into retirement, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) reported. Since the late 1990s, five litres of milk have been taken from the herd every three months for sampling as part of Dounreay's environmental monitoring program. However, the herd's owner, Celia McDougall, was concerned that the aging nannies would no longer be able to produce sufficient milk to meet the site's needs. Angela Lockhart, senior environment compliance officer at DSRL, commented: "When Mrs McDougall told us about the goats, we set about finding an alternative supplier, and in future we will be obtaining cows' milk from a herd in Sibster." She added, "We will be sad to say goodbye to Mrs McDougall and her goats after so many years." Dounreay was the UK's centre for experimental fast breeder research and development from 1954 until 1994. The site is now being decommissioned, but the goats will live on in retirement.