Looking for a goat model & design advice! Bellingham, WA

[WWUGoatDesign]

Hello pack goat friends!

I'm an industrial design student at WWU in bellingham. I am working on a project right now designing panniers for pack goats, specifically to be used by forest rangers. I am looking for pack goat owners in or near bellingham that would be willing to let me take photos of their goats wearing my bags in the near future!

Also, if anybody has any design ideas that you think could be cool on a pannier, please let me know! The panniers I am designing are rather small and minimal as we are restricted to using a difficult material (recycled, non-woven wool), but I will try my best to take any advice into my design!

Such an awesome community I have stumbled upon! Thanks in advance!

- Mitchell

[Nanno]

Neat! I'm nowhere near Washington, but there are a lot of goat packers who are. I hope you can find someone to work with you!

[Sanhestar]

I won't be able to help you due to my location (Europe) but how is the wool processed to keep shape? Felting?

Things to keep in mind:

- water resistancy
- weight
- sturdiness

What material can you use for straps?

[Deborah Haney]

I'm just north of Seattle. I have Nigerian Dwarves, so we're not serious packers, but if you want to make miniature prototypes, I'd be happy to help.

[WWUGoatDesign]

I won't be able to help you due to my location (Europe) but how is the wool processed to keep shape? Felting?

Things to keep in mind:

- water resistancy
- weight
- sturdiness

What material can you use for straps?

I am using nylon webbing for the straps. the recycled cotton is supposed to be roughly 80% of the pack's construction, this allows for hardware such as zippers and straps! the bag won't end up being used in real life, and is mostly just a visual model, so I'm not focusing too much on waterproofing just because that would be a pain with this material, but I may spray it with some scotch guard or something. Thanks for the reply!

[WWUGoatDesign]

I'm just north of Seattle. I have Nigerian Dwarves, so we're not serious packers, but if you want to make miniature prototypes, I'd be happy to help.

Neat! The bags I am designing are about 18"x14"x8", I'm not sure exactly how big your goats are but these bags might dwarf your dwarves!