What Much Do You Know About Goat?

a hardy domesticated ruminant mammal that

has backward-curving horns and (in the

male) a beard. It is kept for its milk and

meat, and noted for its lively behaviour

tamed by humans and were being

herded 9,000 years ago.

Goat meat is the most consumed meat

per capita worldwide

Goats can be taught their name and to

come when called

The life span of a goat is about that of a

dog

Goats have a gestation period

(pregnancy) of five month and the

average birth rate for goats is 2.2 kids

per year.

Baby goats (kids) are standing and

taking their first steps within minutes of

being born.

Each kid has a unique call, and along

with its scent, that is how its mother

recognizes it from birth – not by sight.

Counter to the dominant stereotype

about goats being willing to eat anything,

they are actually very picky eaters.

They have very sensitive lips, which

they use to “mouth” things in search of

clean and tasty food. They will often

refuse to eat hay that has been walked

on or lying around loose for a day.

Goats are herd animals and will become

depressed if kept without any goat

companions. So, it is unhealthy for a

goat if a family just owns one as a pet.

Goats, being mountain animals, are very

good at climbing; they’ve been known to

climb to the tops of trees, or even dams!

Goats’ pupils (like many hooved

animals) are rectangular. This gives

them vision for 320 to 340 degrees

(compared to humans with 160-210)

around them without having to move and

they are thought to have excellent night

vision.

Goats are foragers, NOT grazers. It is

actually unnatural to graze a goat on

grass and increases the likelihood of

them picking up harmful parasites. In

their natural habitat, they roam

mountaintops and reach up as high as

possible to pick out choice bits of forage

around them.

Goats have four “stomachs.” Their food

moves first into the rumen (from which it

is periodically regurgitated for more

“cud chewing”), then to the reticulum,

later to the omasum, and finally to the

abomasum (which is most like a more

sensitive human stomach).

Goats are burpers! This is due to the

role of their rumen. The rumen, which in

a mature goat holds four to five gallons

of plant material, breaks down cellulose

and acts as a fermentation vat. Of

course, fermentation produces gas, and

this gas escapes in the form of loud,

healthy burps. Our goats can frequently

be heard burping in the barn.

The domestic goat ( Capra aegagrus hircus ) is a

subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild

goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe .

The goat is a member of the family Bovidae and

is closely related to the sheep as both are in the

goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae . There are

over 300 distinct breeds of goat.Goats are

one of the oldest domesticated species, and

have been used for their milk , meat , hair, and

skins over much of the world. In 2011, there

were more than 924 million live goats around the

globe, according to the UN Food and Agriculture

Organization .

Female goats are referred to as “does” or

“nannies;” intact males are called “bucks” or

“billies;” and juveniles of both sexes are called

“kids”. Castrated males are called “wethers”.

Goat meat from younger animals is called “kid”

or cabrito (Spanish), while meat from older

animals is known simply as “goat” or sometimes

called chevon, or in some areas ” mutton ” (which

more often refers to adult sheep meat)

Goats are among the earliest animals

domesticated by humans.  The most recent

genetic analysis  confirms the archaeological

evidence that the wild Bezoar ibex of the Zagros

Mountains is the likely original ancestor of

probably all domestic goats today.

Neolithic farmers began to herd wild goats

primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as

well as to their dung, which was used as fuel,

and their bones, hair and sinew for clothing,

building and tools. The earliest remnants of

domesticated goats dating 10,000 years before

present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran. Goat

remains have been found at archaeological sites

in Jericho , Choga Mami  Djeitun and Çayönü ,

dating the domestication of goats in Western

Asia at between 8000 and 9000 years ago.

Studies of DNA evidence suggests 10,000 years

BP as the domestication date.

Historically, goat hide has been used for water

and wine bottles in both traveling and

transporting wine for sale. It has also been used

to produce parchment . Goats are considered small livestock animals,

compared to bigger animals such as cattle ,

camels and horses, but larger than

microlivestock such as poultry, rabbits , cavies,

and bees . Each recognized breed of goats has

specific weight ranges, which vary from over

140 kg for bucks of larger breeds such

as the Boer, to 20 to 27 kg  for

smaller goat does.  Within each breed,

different strains or bloodlines may have different

recognized sizes. At the bottom of the size range

are miniature breeds such as the African

Pygmy, which stand 41 to 58 cm  at

the shoulder as adults.

Most goats naturally have two horns, of various

shapes and sizes depending on the breed. Goats

have horns unless they are “polled” (meaning,

genetically hornless) or the horns have been

removed, typically soon after birth. There

have been incidents of polycerate goats (having

as many as eight horns), although this is a

genetic rarity thought to be inherited. The horns

are most typically removed in commercial dairy

goat herds, to reduce the injuries to humans and

other goats. Unlike cattle, goats have not been

successfully bred to be reliably polled, as the

genes determining sex and those determining

horns are closely linked. Breeding together two

genetically polled goats results in a high number

of intersex individuals among the offspring,

which are typically sterile.  Their horns are

made of living bone surrounded by keratin and

other proteins , and are used for defense,

dominance, and territoriality.

Goats are ruminants. They have a four-

chambered stomach consisting of the rumen , the

reticulum , the omasum, and the abomasum . As

with other mammal ruminants, they are even-

toed ungulates. The females have an udder

consisting of two teats, in contrast to cattle,

which have four teats. An exception to this is

the Boer goat, which sometimes may have up to

eight teats.

Goats have horizontal, slit-shaped pupils.

Because goats’ irises are usually pale, their

contrasting pupils are much more noticeable

than in animals such as cattle, deer, most

horses and many sheep, whose similarly

horizontal pupils blend into a dark iris and

sclera.

Both male and female goats have beards, and

many types of goat (most commonly dairy

goats, dairy-cross Boers, and pygmy goats )

may have wattles , one dangling from each side

of the neck.

Some breeds of sheep and goats look similar,

but they can usually be told apart because goat

tails are short and usually point up, whereas

sheep tails hang down and are usually longer

and bigger – though some (like those of

Northern European short-tailed sheep) are

short, and longer ones are often docked .

Goats reach puberty between three and 15

months of age, depending on breed and

nutritional status. Many breeders prefer to

postpone breeding until the doe has reached

70% of the adult weight. However, this

separation is rarely possible in extensively

managed, open-range herds.

In temperate climates and among the Swiss

breeds, the breeding season commences as the

day length shortens, and ends in early spring or

before. In equatorial regions, goats are able to

breed at any time of the year. Successful

breeding in these regions depends more on

available forage than on day length. Does of any

breed or region come into estrus (heat) every 21

days for two to 48 hours. A doe in heat typically

flags (vigorously wags) her tail often, stays near

the buck if one is present, becomes more vocal,

and may also show a decrease in appetite and

milk production for the   of the heat.

Bucks (intact males) of Swiss and northern

breeds come into rut in the fall as with the does’

heat cycles. Bucks of equatorial breeds may

show seasonal reduced fertility, but as with the

does, are capable of breeding at all times. Rut is

characterized by a decrease in appetite and

obsessive interest in the does. A buck in rut will

display flehmen lip curling and will urinate on his

forelegs and face. Sebaceous scent glands at

the base of the horns add to the male goat’s

odor, which is important to make him attractive

to the female. Some does will not mate with a

buck which has been descented.

In addition to natural, traditional mating, artificial

insemination has gained popularity among goat

breeders , as it allows easy access to a wide

variety of bloodlines .

Gestation length is approximately 150 days.

Twins are the usual result, with single and triplet

births also common. Less frequent are litters of

quadruplet , quintuplet, and even sextuplet kids.

Birthing, known as kidding, generally occurs

uneventfully. Just before kidding, the doe will

have a sunken area around the tail and hip, as

well as heavy breathing. She may have a worried

look, become restless and display great

affection for her keeper. The mother often eats

the placenta , which gives her much-needed

nutrients, helps stanch her bleeding, and

parallels the behavior of wild herbivores, such as

deer, to reduce the lure of the birth scent for

predators.

Freshening (coming into milk production) occurs

at kidding. Milk production varies with the breed,

age, quality, and diet of the doe; dairy goats

generally produce between 680 and 1,810 kg

of milk per 305-day

lactation . On average, a good quality dairy doe

will give at least 3 kg of milk per day while

she is in milk. A first-time milker may produce

less, or as much as 7 kg or more of milk

in exceptional cases. After the lactation, the doe

will “dry off”, typically after she has been bred.

Occasionally, goats that have not been bred and

are continuously milked will continue lactation

beyond the typical 305 days.  Meat, fiber, and

pet breeds are not usually milked and simply

produce enough for the kids until weaning.

Male lactation is also known to occur in

goats.

Diet

Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost

anything, including tin cans and cardboard

boxes. While goats will not actually eat inedible

material, they are browsing animals, not grazers

like cattle and sheep, and (coupled with their

highly curious nature) will chew on and taste

just about anything remotely resembling plant

matter to decide whether it is good to eat,

including cardboard, clothing and paper (such as

labels from tin cans). The unusual smells of

leftover food in discarded cans or boxes may

further stimulate their curiosity.