Goat

? Capra
Domestic goat
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Subfamily:: Caprinae Genus: Capra Linnaeus, 1758
Species
See Species and subspecies

A goat is a member of the genus Capra of the bovid, Bovidae, family of even-toed ungulates, or hoofed mammals. There are several species of goats, all of them native to Asia, Europe, and North Africa.

The domestic goat is descended from the wild goat, Capra aegagrus, and is sometimes considered a subspecies, C. aegagrus hircus, and sometimes a distinct species, C. hircus. It was one of the first animals domesticated by humans and remains an important domesticated animal today.

A male goat is called a buck or billy, and a female is called a doe or nanny. Young goats are called kids.

The Rocky Mountain goat, Oreamnos americanus, is not a true goat; although it, like sheep, the musk ox, and the chamois, are closely related to the goats.

Species and subspecies

Preferring woody and weedy species, goats select the young growing points first as they browse downward from the upper parts of a plant.
Photo by Scott Bauer for the USDA

• The wild goat, Capra aegagrus, is also known as the Bezoar goat and the pasang. It is found in western Asia.
• The domestic goat, C. aegagrus hircus or C. hircus.
• The kri-kri, C. Aegagrus creticus, also known as the Cretan goat, is found on the island of Crete and is thought to be descended from early domestic goats.
• The West Caucasian tur, C. caucasia,
• The East Caucasian tur, C. cylindricornis
• The markor, C. falconeri
• The ibex, C. Ibex
• The Walia ibex, C. walie
• The Spanish ibex, C. pyrenaica

Each of these species includes several subspecies living in different geographical areas.

120px	Capra aegagrus	wild goat (Bezoar Goat, Pasang)
120px	Capra aegagrus hircus	domestic goat
	Capra aegagrus creticus	kri-kri (Cretan goat, Agrimi, Cretan ibex)
	Capra caucasia	West Caucasian tur
	Capra cylindricornis	East Caucasian tur
	Capra hircus Laniger	Cashmere goat
	Capra falconeri	markhor
	Capra falconeri heptneri	Bukharan markhor
	Capra falconeri chialtanensis	Chialtan markhor
	Capra falconeri megaceros	straight-horned markhor
	Capra falconeri jerdoni	Suleman markhor
120px	Capra ibex	alpine ibex
	Capra ibex ibex
	Capra ibex nubiana	Nubian ibex, also Capra nubiana
	Capra ibex sibirica	Asiatic ibex, also Capra sibirica
	Capra pyrenaica	Spanish ibex
	Capra pyrenaica victoriae	Gredos Ibex
	Capra pyrenaica hispanica	Beceite Ibex
	Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica	Pyrenean Ibex†
	Capra pyrenaica lusitanica	Portuguese Ibex†
	Capra walie	Walia Ibex

Similarity to sheep

Though closely related to sheep, to the point of causing occasional taxonomic confusion, goat behaviour is quite different. Sheep are primarily roaming grazers which travel in herds (also known as flocks), while goats are browsers like deer, eating branches and twigs, and tend to be more territorial. Like sheep, though, they have horns that continue to grow throughout their lifetime instead of antlers that fall off once a year. Unlike sheep, both male and female goats grow horns, and both sexes can have beards. Goats are herd animals and survive better in a herd situation than alone. But they tend to be more aggressive with predators, and some sheep herders will run a few goats with the herd because after initially fleeing, the goats will stand up to a predator and possibly deter them, whereas sheep will continue to run. A herd typically has a Herd Queen, who leads the herd while browsing. They are also much more lively than sheep and their inquisitive nature makes them curious pets. Sheep and goats have the same horizontal slit pupil in their eyeballs.

Behavior

Goats are extremely curious and intelligent. They are easily housebroken, and trained to pull carts and walk on leads. Ches McCartney, nicknamed "the goat man", toured the United States for over three decades in a wagon pulled by a herd of pet goats. They are also known for escaping their pens. If you have inferior fencing, be assured your goats will test it and soon you will know where the gaps are. Goats are very coordinated and can climb and hold their balance in the most precarious places. Goats are also widely known for their ability to climb trees, although the tree generally has to be on somewhat of an angle.

A common misconception is that goats will eat anything. This is not true at all; in reality they are fastidious eaters and will not even take a bite of something that has fallen onto the ground or that something else has had in its mouth. Goats prefer to graze on shrubbery and weeds for food. Goats graze more like deer than sheep, preferring woody shrubs rather than grasses. Mold in a goat's feed can make it sick and possibly kill it. Nightshade is also poisonous; wilted fruit tree leaves can also kill goats. Goats should not be fed grass with any signs of mold. Silage (corn stalks) is not good for goats, but haylage can be used if consumed immediately after opening. Alfalfa is their favorite hay, fescue the least palatable and least nutritious.

Wild goat

The wild goat (Capra aegagrus) is a common type of goat species, with a distribution ranging from Europe and Asia Minor to central Asia and the Middle East.

In the wild, goats live in flocks of 5-20 goats; males are solitary. Male goats go through a period called a rut, where they are ready to mate. During the rut old males drive younger males from the maternal herds. The gestation period averages 170 days. Does (females) usually give birth to one kid. Kids can follow the mother goat almost immediately after birth. Kids are weaned after 6 months. Female goats reach sexual maturity at 1.5-2.5 years, males at 3.5-4 years. The lifespan of a goat can be from 12 to 22 years.

Subspecies include:

• Capra aegagrus aegagrus (Bezoar Ibex)
• Capra aegagrus blythi (Sindh Ibex)
• Capra aegagrus chialtanensis (Chiltan Ibex)
• Capra aegagrus cretica (Kri-kri)
• Capra aegagrus hircus (Domestic Goat)
• Capra aegagrus turcmenica (Bearded Goat)

Wild goats are found in:

• Afghanistan
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Cyprus
• Georgia
• Greece
• India
• Iran
• Iraq
• Italy
• Lebanon
• New Zealand
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Syria
• Turkey
• Turkmenistan

Domestic goat

The domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is a domesticated subspecies of the wild goat of southwest Asia and eastern Europe. It is a member of the bovine family, and is closely related to the sheep, both being in the goat antelope group.

Domestic goats are one of the oldest domesticated species. For thousands of years, they have been utilized for their milk, meat, hair, and skins all over the world. In the last century they have also gained some popularity as pets.

Female goats are referred to as does or nannies, intact males as bucks or billies their offspring are kids. Castrated males are wethers. Goat meat is sometimes called chevon.

File:Male goat.jpg

Male goat, also called a billy or buck

Goats seem to have been first domesticated roughly 10,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.[1] Ancient cultures and tribes began to keep them for easy access to milk, hair, meat, and skins. Domestic goats were generally kept in herds that wandered on hills or other grazing areas, often tended by goatherds who were frequently children or adolescents, similar to the more widely known shepherd. These methods of herding are still utilized today.

Historically, goathide has been used for water and wine bottles in both traveling and transporting wine for sale. It has also been used to produce parchment, which was the most common material used for writing in Europe until the invention of the printing press.

Reproduction

Baby goats, called kids

In some climates goats, like humans, are able to breed at any time of the year. In northern climates and among the Swiss breeds, the breeding season commences as the day length shortens, and ends in early spring. Does of any breed come into heat every 21 days for 2–48 hours. A doe in heat typically flags 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 duration of the heat.

Bucks (intact males) of Swiss and northern breeds come into rut in the fall as with the doe's heat cycles. Rut is characterized by a decrease in appetite, obsessive interest in the does, fighting between bucks, display behavior, and, most notably, a strong, musky odor. This odor is singular to bucks in rut and is caused not only by the glands on their heads but by their habit of urinating on their beards and front legs — the doe does not have it unless a buck has rubbed his scent onto her or she is in actuality a hermaphrodite — and is instrumental in bringing the does into a strong heat.

File:Mother eating placenta.jpg

Mother goat eating placenta

In addition to live breeding, artificial insemination has gained popularity among goat breeders, as it allows for rapid improvement because of breeder 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 with few complications. The mother often eats the placenta, which, with its oxytocin, gives her much needed nutrients, helps staunch her bleeding, and is believed by some to reduce the lure of the birth scent to 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 660 to 1,800 L (1,500 and 4,000 lb) of milk per 305 day lactation. On average, a good quality dairy doe will give at least 6 lb (2.7 L) of milk per day while she is in milk, although a first time milker may produce less, or as much as 16 lb (7.3 L) or more of milk in exceptional cases. Meat, fiber, and pet breeds are not usually milked and simply produce enough for the kids until weaning.

Feeding goats

Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything. Many farmers use inexpensive (i.e. not purebred) goats for brush control, leading to the use of the term "brush goats." (Brush goats are not a variety of goat, but rather a function they perform.) Because they prefer weeds (e.g. multiflora rose, thorns, small trees) to clover and grass, they are often used to keep fields clear for other animals. The digestive systems of a goat allow nearly any organic substance to be broken down and used as nutrients.

Contrary to this reputation, they are quite fastidious in their habits, preferring to browse on the tips of woody shrubs and trees, as well as the occasional broad leaved plant. It can fairly be said that goats will eat almost anything in the botanical world. Their plant diet is extremely varied and includes some species which are toxic or detrimental to cattle and sheep. This makes them valuable for controlling noxious weeds and clearing brush and undergrowth. They will seldom eat soiled food or water unless facing starvation.

Goats do not actually consume garbage, tin cans, or clothing, although they will occasionally eat items made primarily of plant material, which can include wood. Their reputation for doing so is most likely due to their intensely inquisitive and intelligent nature: they will explore anything new or unfamiliar in their surroundings. They do so primarily with their prehensile upper lip and tongue. This is why they investigate clothes and sometimes washing powder boxes by nibbling at them.

Goats will consume, on average, 4.5 pounds of dry matter per 100 lbs of body weight per day.

Goat products

A goat is said to be truly useful both when alive and dead, providing meat and milk while the skin provides hide. A charity is involved in providing goats to impoverished people in Africa. The main reason cited was that goats are easier to manage than cattle and have multiple uses.

Meat

The taste of goat meat, called chevon (which, like most meat names, is from the French word for the animal, in this case chèvre), is said to be similar to veal or venison, depending on the age of the goat. It can be prepared in a variety of ways including stewed, baked, grilled, barbecued, minced, canned, or made into sausage. It is also healthier than mutton as it is lower in fat and cholesterol and comparable to chicken. It is popular in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and northeastern Brazil. Chevon, as yet, is not popular in most western nations.

Other parts of the goat including organs are also equally edible. Special delicacies include the brain and liver. For example, in Patagonia, Argentina, the head and legs of the Brodie goat are smoked and used to prepare unique spicy dishes.

Milk and cheese

Goats' milk is more easily digested than cows' milk and is recommended for infants and people who have difficulty with cows' milk. The curd is much smaller and more digestable. Moreover it is naturally homogenized since it lacks the protein agglutinin. Furthermore, goats' milk contains less lactose and is easier to digest, which means it will usually not trigger lactose intolerance in humans.

Contrary to popular opinion, goats' milk is not naturally bad tasting. When handled properly, from clean and healthy goats, in a sanitary manner, and cooled quickly, the flavor is unremarkable and inoffensive. Also, it is necessary to separate the strong smelling buck from the dairy does, as his scent will rub off on them and will taint the milk.

Goats' milk is also used to make popular cheeses such as Rocamadour and feta, although it can be used to make any type of cheese.

Skin

Goat skin is still used today to make gloves, boots, and other products that require a soft hide. Kid gloves, popular in Victorian times, are still made today. The Black Bengal breed, native to Bangladesh, provides high-quality skin.

Fiber

Cashmere goats produce a fiber, Cashmere wool, which is one of the best in the world. Cashmere fiber is very fine and soft, and grows beneath the guard hairs. Ideally there is a proportionally smaller amount of guard hair (which is undesirable and cannot be spun or dyed) to the cashmere fiber. Most goats produce cashmere fiber to some degree, however the Cashmere goat has been specially bred to produce a much higher amount of it with fewer guard hairs. The Angora breed produces long, curling, lustrous locks of mohair. The entire body of the goat is covered with mohair and there are no guard hairs. The locks can be six inches or more in length. Goats do not have to be slaughtered to harvest the wool, which is instead sheared (cut from the body) in the case of Angora goats, or combed, in the case of Cashmere goats. The fiber is made into products such as sweaters. Both cashmere and mohair are warmer per ounce than wool and are not scratchy or itchy or as allergenic as wool sometimes is. Both fibers command a higher price than wool, compensating for the fact that there is less fiber per goat than there would be wool per sheep.

In South Asia, Cashmere is called pashmina (Persian pashmina = fine wool) and these goats are called pashmina goats (often mistaken as sheep). Since these goats actually belong to the upper Kashmir and Laddakh region, their wool came to be known as cashmere in the West. The pashmina shawls of Kashmir with their intricate embriodery are very famous.

Goat breeds

Goat breeds fall into four categories, though there is some overlap among them; meaning that some are dual purpose.

Feral

• Auckland Island Goat (extinct)

Dairy

• Alpine:French Alpine,British Alpine,American Alpine
• Golden Guernsey
• La Mancha
• Nigerian Dwarf
• Nubian
• Oberhasli
• Pygmy
• Rove
• Saanen
• Sable Saanen
• Toggenburg
• Kinder
• Canarian goats: Majorera (Island of Fuerteventura), Palmera (Island of La Palma), etc.
• Note that Alpine, La Mancha, Nubian, Obersli, Saanen and Toggenburg goats also exist in miniature version, as a result of breeding of the full size does to Nigerian bucks.

Fibre

• Angora
• Cashmere
• Pygora
• Nigora

Meat

• Boer
• Kiko
• Rove
• Spanish
• Fainting

Pet

• Pygmy
• Nigerian Dwarf

Skin

• Black Bengal

Wild

• Tahr
• Cretan kri-kri (Capra aegagrus creticus)
• Ibex, including the Alpine Ibex

Showing

Goat breeders' clubs frequently hold shows, where goats are judged on traits relating to conformation, udder quality, evidence of high production and longevity. People who show their goats usually keep registered stock and the offspring of award winning animals command a higher price. Registered goats, in general, are usually higher priced if for no other reason than that records have been kept proving their ancestry and the production and other data of their sires, dams, and other ancestors. A registered dairy doe is usually less of a gamble than buying a dairy doe at random (as at an auction or sale barn) because of these records and the reputation of the breeder.

Children's clubs such as 4-H also allow goats to be shown. Children's shows often include a showmanship class, where the cleanliness and presentation of both the animal and the exhibitor as well as the handler's ability and skill in handling the goat are scored. In a showmanship class, conformation is irrelevant since this is not what is being judged.

Various Dairy Goat Scorecards (milking does) — are systems used for judging shows in the U.S. The American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) scorecard is as follows:

General Appearance: 35 points (This includes breed characteristics, head, shoulders, legs and feet, and topline- the back and rump)

Dairy Character: 20 points (the doe should be lean and angular, not meaty, and show evidence of high production).

Body Capacity: 10 points (the doe should be large and strong with a wide, deep barrel).

Mammary System: 35 points (udder should be productive and very well attached so as to be held up high away from possible injury, teats should be of a good size and shape for easy milking).

In all the perfect dairy goat would score all 100 points, and this is the standard by which the goats are judged. Young stock and bucks are judged by different scorecards which place more emphasis on the other three categories; general appearance, body capacity, and dairy character.

• The American Goat Society (AGS) has a similar, but not identical scorecard that is used in their shows. The miniature dairy goats may be judged by either of the two scorecards.

Anatomy

Goats have horizontal slit shaped pupils. The narrower the pupil, the more accurate the depth perception of peripheral vision is, so narrowing it in one direction would increase depth perception in that plane [[2]][[3]].Animals with like goats and sheep may have evolved horizontal pupils because better vision in the vertical plane may be benficial in mountainous environments[[4]].

Etymology

The Modern English word "goat" comes from Old English "gat" which meant "she-goat" which itself derived from Proto-Germanic "*gaitaz" (compare Old Norse and Dutch "geit", German "Geiß" and Gothic "gaits" all meaning "goat") ultimately from Proto-Indo-European "*ghaidos" meaning "young goat" but also "play" (compare Latin "hædus" meaning "kid"). The word for "male goat" in Old English was "bucca" (which now exists as the word buck, meaning any male herbivore) until a shift to "he-goat/she-goat" occurred in the late 12th century."Nanny goat" originated in the 18th century and "billy goat" in the 19th.

Goats in folklore and mythology

Since its inception, Christianity has associated Satan with imagery of goats (see Pan (mythology)). A common superstition in the Middle Ages was that goats whispered lewd sentences in the ears of the saints. The origin of this belief was probably the behavior of the buck in rut, the very epitome of lust. The common medieval depiction of the Devil was that of a goat like face with horns and small beard (a goatee). The Black Mass, a probably-mythological "Satanic mass," was said to involve a black goat, the form in which Satan supposedly manifested himself for worship.

The goat has had a lingering connection with Satanism and pagan religions, even into modern times. The pentagram, a symbol used by both Satanism and Wicca, is said to be shaped like a goat's head. The "Baphomet of Mendes" refers to a satanic goat-like figure from 19th century occultism.

According to Norse mythology, the god of thunder, Thor, has a chariot that is pulled by several goats. At night when he sets up camp, Thor will eat the meat of the goats, but take care that all bones remain whole. Then he wraps the remains up, and in the morning, the goats will always come back to life to pull the chariot. When a mortal who is invited to share the meal breaks one of the goats' legs to suck the marrow however, the animal's leg remain broken in the morning, and the mortal is forced to serve Thor as a servant to compensate for the damage.

The goat is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Each animal is associated with certain personality traits; those born in a year of the goat are predicted to be shy, introverted, creative, and perfectionist. See Sheep (zodiac).

Several mythological hybrid creatures are believed to consist of parts of the goat, including the Chimera and the tuba.

The Capricorn sign in the Western zodiac is usually depicted as a goat with a fish's tail.

Fauns and satyrs are mythological creatures that are part goat and part human.

Gallery

• Gorge du Verdon Goat 0254.jpg

  Goat in the mountains above Gorges du Verdon, Provence, South-France

• Goat skull.jpg

  Goat skull

• Brown female goat.jpg

  Female goat, also called a nanny

• 

  Domestic Goats high up in the hills

• 

  Man herding goats in Tunisia

• Domestic goat warsaw pg.JPG

  Domestic goat in Warsaw, Poland

• 

  Little Kids
  Petting zoo, St. Louis Zoo

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA). 2007. Website. [5]
• Bulanskey, S. 1992. The Covenant of the Wild. New york : William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0688096107
• Clutton-Brook, J. 1999. A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals. Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521634954
• Coffey, L., Hale, M., Wells, A. 2004 "Goats: Sustainable Production Overview". National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. [6]
• Huffman, B. 2006. The Ultimate Ungulate Page Website [7]
• Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG). 2007. "Global Invasive Species Database: Capra hircus".[8]
• Nowak, R. M. and J. L. Paradiso. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801825253
• Oklahoma State University (OSU). 2006 Breeds of Livestock: Goats[9]
• United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 2007. "Goat from Farm to Table"[10]
• Voelker, W. 1986. The Natural History of Living Mammals. Medford, New Jersey: Plexus Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0937548081

[11] [12]

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