Melody Plumley

I grew up ranching, and the ranch I'm on has been in my family since 1929. I'm actually the third female to be the owner of it. Before I took over the ranch full-time, I was a teacher. I taught public school, but I also taught for the Texas Tech Outdoor School where I was both a teacher and a director of that program. We taught outdoor STEM lessons to students from all over Texas, and I even had some students from China and Brazil, international students. We taught about water quality and wildlife. When I started ranching professionally, we got into Angora goats in 2015. Angora goats are historically a big deal in our area - my town is actually the Angora goat capital of the world. The registry for all the Angora goats in the United States goes through the AAGBA office here. Right now, I feed about 250 head of Angora goats. A lot of what I'm raising, they're gonna be stock show projects for kids. One of the outreach things I do for the public with my ranch is I take goats to different events, and I set up a whole educational table about Angora goats. I've taken them to state parks, 4-H meetings, conservation and agricultural days. I've been to Zavala County, Rial, Edwards, Kimball, even the local library. If they have a story hour, they'll bring me in to read a story and have baby goats for the kids to play with. My point is to promote mohair and the Angora goat industry and the education of both. I also do a lot of TikTok videos - that's another way that I show Angora goats in a positive way. I do a lot of funny, cute Angora goat videos. My handle is Texas Sang Laura. In addition to the ranch, my husband and I do kitchen cabinetry for an actual living. We've been doing that since 2013, when we moved to Junction.