This article is about the domestic species. For general information, including mythology and wild species, see Capra (genus). 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 Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep, both being in the goat antelope subfamily Caprinae.
Domestic goats are one of the oldest domesticated species. For thousands of years, goats have been used for their milk, meat, hair, and skins over much of the world.[1] In the last century they have also gained some popularity as pets.[2]
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 from younger animals is called kid, and from older animals is sometimes called chevon, or in some areas mutton.
Etymology
The Modern English word "goat" comes from the Old English gat which meant "she-goat", and this in turn derived from Proto-Germanic *gaitaz (compare Old Norse and Dutch geit'(meaning' "goat"), German Geiß' ("she-goat") and Gothic gaits, ("goat")) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ghaidos meaning "young goat" but also "play" (compare Latin haedus meaning "kid"). The word for "male goat" in Old English was bucca (which survives as "buck", meaning certain male herbivores) until a shift to "he-goat" (and also "she-goat") occurred in the late 12th century. "Nanny goat" originated in the 18th century and "billy goat" in the 19th.
History
Goats seem to have been first domesticated roughly 10,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.[3] 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 used today.
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, which was the most common material used for writing in Europe until the invention of the printing press.
Anatomy
Most goats naturally have 2 horns, of various shapes and sizes depending on the breed. While horns are a predominantly male feature, some breeds of goats have horned females. Polled (hornless goats) are not uncommon and there have been incidents of polycerate (multiple horns, up to 8) goats, although this is a genetic rarity thought to be inherited. Their horns are made of living bone surrounded by keratin and other proteins and are used for defense, dominance, and territoriality. [4]
Goats are ruminants. They have a four-chambered stomach consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum.
Goats have horizontal slit-shaped pupils, an adaptation which increases peripheral depth perception.[5]. Because goats' irises are usually pale, the pupils are much more visible than in animals with horizontal pupils but very dark irises, such as sheep, cattle and most horses.
Some breeds of sheep and goats appear superficially similar, but goat tails are short and point up, whereas sheep tails hang down and are usually longer (though some are short, and some long ones are docked).
Reproduction
In some climates, goats are able to breed at any time of the year. In temperate 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 to 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.
A doe and her twin offspring.
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 and obsessive interest in the does.
In addition to natural 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. Right before kidding the doe will have a sunken area around the tail and hip. Also she will have heavy breathing, a worried look, become restless and show great display of affection for her keeper. The mother often eats the placenta, which gives her much needed nutrients, helps stanch her bleeding, and is believed by somewho? 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 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.
Diet
Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything. 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. However, 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 contaminated water unless facing starvation. This is one of the reasons why goat rearing is most often free ranging since stall-fed goat rearing involves extensive upkeep and is seldom commercially viable.
Goats do not usually consume garbage, tin cans, or clothing, although they will occasionally eat items made primarily of plant material, which can include wood. They have an 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 items such as buttons, camera cases or clothing (and many other things besides) by nibbling at them, occasionally even eating them.
The digestive physiology of a very young kid (like the young of other ruminants) is essentially the same as that of a monogastric animal. Milk digestion begins in the abomasum, the milk having bypassed the rumen via closure of the reticular/esophageal groove during suckling. At birth the rumen is undeveloped, but as the kid begins to consume solid feed, the rumen soon increases in size and in its capacity to absorb nutrients.
Goats will consume, on average, 4.5 units of dry matter per 100 units of body-weight per day.citation needed
Goat uses
1905 illustration of a Tibetan goat.
A goat is useful to humans both alive and dead, first as a renewable provider of milk and fibre, and then as meat and hide. Some charities provide goats to impoverished people in poor countries, because goats are easier and cheaper to manage than cattle, and have multiple uses. In addition, goats are used for driving and packing purposes.
For instance, the intestine is used to make "catgut", which is still in use as a material for internal human sutures. The horn of the goat, which signifies wellbeing (Cornucopia) is also used to make spoons etc.[6]
The Boer goat - in this case a buck - is a widely-kept meat breed.
Meat
The taste of goat meat is similar to that of lamb meat; in fact, in some parts of Asia, particularly India, the word "mutton" is used to describe both goat and lamb meat. However, some feel that it has a similar taste to veal or venison, depending on the age and condition of the goat. It can be prepared in a variety of ways including stewed, curried, baked, grilled, barbecued, minced, canned, or made into sausage. Goat jerky is also another popular variety. In India, the rice-preparation of mutton biryani uses goat meat as its primary ingredients to produce a rich taste. "Curry goat" is a traditional West Indian dish.
Nutritionally, goat meat is healthier than mutton as it is lower in fat and cholesterol, and comparable to chicken. It also has more minerals than chicken,[7] and is lower in total and saturated fats than other meats.[8] One reason for the leanness is that goats do not accumulate fat deposits or "marbling" in their muscles; chevon (goat meat) must ideally be cooked longer and at lower temperatures than other red meats.[9] It is popular in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, northeastern Brazil, the West Indies, and Belize. Chevon, as yet, is not popular in most western nations, though it is among the fastest growing sectors of the livestock industry in the US.citation needed
Other parts of the goat including organs are also equally edible. Special delicacies include the brain (where legal) and liver. The head and legs of the goat may be smoked and used to prepare unique spicy dishes and soup.
One of the most popular goats grown for meat is the South African Boer, introduced into the United States in the early 1990s. The New Zealand Kiko is also considered a meat breed, as is the Myotonic or "fainting goat", a breed originating in Tennessee.
Milk, butter and cheese
Some goats are bred for milk, which can be drunk fresh, although pasteurization is recommended to reduce naturally occurring bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.[10] If the strong-smelling buck is not separated from the does, his scent will affect the milk. Goat milk is commonly processed into cheese, goat butter, ice cream, cajeta and other products.
Goat milk can successfully replace cow milk in diets of those who are allergic to cow milk.[11] However, like cow milk, goat milk has lactose (sugar) and may cause gastrointestinal problems for individuals with lactose intolerance.[11] It also contains a form of Casein, a Protein in all Mammal's milk.
Goat's milk is naturally homogenized, which means the cream remains suspended in the milk, instead of rising to the top, as in raw cow's milk. If the milk is kept scrupulously clean, it can be drunk raw, greatly improving the benefits.
Many dairy goats, in their prime, average 6 to 8 pounds of milk daily (roughly 3 to 4 quarts) during a ten-month lactation, giving more soon after freshening and gradually dropping in production toward the end of their lactation. The milk generally averages 3.5 percent butterfat. A doe may be expected to reach her heaviest production during her third or fourth lactation.[12] It is also said that "formula derived from goats' milk is unsuitable for babies who are lactose intolerant as it contains similar levels of lactose to cow's-milk-based infant formulae."[13]
Goat butter is white (compared to yellow butter from cow's milk) because the goats produce milk with the yellow beta-carotene converted to a colorless form of vitamin A.
Goat cheese is known as chèvre in France, after the French word for "goat". Some varieties include Rocamadour and Montrachet.[14] Feta is a well-known Greek variety that may be made with a blend of goat and sheep milk.
Fiber
Some goats are bred for the fiber from their coats. Most goats have softer insulating hairs nearer the skin, and longer guard hairs on the surface. The desirable fiber for the textile industry is the former, and it goes by several names (mohair, fleece, goat wool, cashmere, etc., explained below). The coarse guard hairs are worthless as they cannot be spun or dyed. The proportion and texture varies between breeds, and has been a target of selective breeding for millennia.
The Cashmere goat produces a fiber, cashmere wool, which is one of the best in the world. It is very fine and soft. 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 constantly grow and can be four inches or more in length. Angora crossbreeds, such as the pygora and the nigora, have been created to produce mohair and/or cashmere wool in a smaller, easier-to-manage animal.
Goats do not have to be slaughtered to harvest the wool, which is instead shorn (cut from the body) in the case of Angora goats, or combed, in the case of Cashmere goats. However, the Angora goat usually gets shorn twice a year with an average yield of about 10 pounds while the Cashmere goat grows its fiber once a year and it takes about a week to comb out by hand, yielding only about 4 ounces.
An Angora goat being shorn
The fiber is made into products such as sweaters and doll's hair. Both cashmere and mohair are warmer per ounce than wool and are not scratchy or itchy or as allergenic as wool. 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" (from Persian pashmina, "fine wool") and these goats are called pashmina goats (these well-fleeced animals are often mistaken for 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 embroidery, are very famous.
Goat breeds
Goat breeds fall into somewhat overlapping, general categories.
Feral
Dairy
Fiber
Meat
Companion
Skin
Showing
A Nigerian Dwarf dairy nanny in show clip. This doe shows good dairy character with high, wide hips and clean, uniform mammaries with two teats.
Goat breeders' clubs frequently hold shows, where goats are judged on traits relating to conformation, udder quality, evidence of high production, longevity, build and muscling (meat goats and pet goats) and fiber production and the fiber itself (fiber goats). 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 doe is usually less of a gamble than buying a 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 US. The American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) scorecard for an adult doe includes a point system of a hundred total with major factors including general appearance, the dairy character of a doe (physical traits that aid and increase milk production), body capacity, and specifically for the mammary system. 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. The "Angora Goat scorecard" used by the Colored Angora Goat Breeder's Association or CAGBA (which covers the white and the colored goats) includes evaluation of an animal's fleece color, density, uniformity, fineness, and general body confirmation. Disqualifications include: a deformed mouth, broken down pasterns, deformed feet, crooked legs, abnormalities of testicles, missing testicles, more than 3 inch split in scrotum, and close-set or distorted horns.
In religion
Goats are mentioned many times in the Bible. A goat is considered a "clean" animal by Jewish dietary laws and was slaughtered for an honored guest. It was also acceptable for some kinds of sacrifices. Goat-hair curtains were used in the tent that contained the tabernacle (Exodus 25:4). On Yom Kippur, the festival of the Day of Atonement, two goats were chosen and lots were drawn for them. One was sacrificed and the other allowed to escape into the wilderness, symbolically carrying with it the sins of the community. From this comes the word "scapegoat". A leader or king was sometimes compared to a male goat leading the flock. In the New Testament, Jesus told a parable of The Sheep and the Goats. (Gospel of Matthew 25)
Goats are also often prevalent in Satanic and occult imagery.
Capra hircus in Australia as feral goats
History
Goats originally came to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788.[15] These goats were the ancestors of the feral goat populations present in Australia today. During the 19th Century, the goats were set free by mariners as a measure to ensure emergency supplies of food. However, most feral goat populations have a domestic origin.[16] For instance, cashmere goats were brought into South Australia in 1837.[17] In the 1860s, angora and cashmere goats were imported from Asia in an order to start a goat fibre industry.[18] Some herds were set free when the industry collapsed in the 1920s. Goats were also taken around Australia with settlers, railway construction groups and miners. The recent populations of the feral goat have established from goats used to control weeds in plantation forests and woody weeds in inland New South Wales and Queensland. The current feral goat populations in Australia represent a mixture of these origins. [16]
Distribution
In Australia, feral goats are found in all states and in the Australia Capital Territory but are rare in the Northern Territory. Feral goats are at their highest densities in the arid and semi-arid rangelands[19], where they are considered a significant agricultural and environmental pest. People, through supplying water and controlling predators to improve sheep production, have modified the natural habitat favorably for feral goats.[16]
Feral goats also occur on many Australian offshore islands. These include islands with important conservation values, such as Lord Howe Island[20], and islands in the Recherche Archipelago[21]. Island populations are generally considered to be pests but the feral goats on North Goulburn Island provide a source of trophy animals for a safari operation run by the Aboriginal owners and also provide food for the owners while they visit the island. Feral goats have been eradicated from several islands including Faure Island, Bernier Island [21], Woody Island [22] and Townshend Island [23]. The establishment of new island populations is now less likely than in the past, especially in South Australia where the Animal and Plant Control Act 1986 prohibits the keeping and release of goats on nearly all islands in that State. The chance of natural colonization of islands is remote as goats will swim (or even wade) only under dire need [24], but perhaps not impossible because goats have been reported to swim to obtain fresh water.[16]
There were about 2.6 million feral goats in Australia in 1993 but this number has fluctuated widely. The fluctuations in number depends upon the quality of available food, availability of water, natural predation, hunting by people and deaths due to diseases, parasites and poisonous plants. [16]
Economic Impact
Feral goats are responsible for an estimated loss of $25 million per year. These are derived from a calculated $17.8 million net loss due to reduced stock production, $6 million[25] contingency loss due to the threat of exotic disease and $1.2 million spent by the government agencies on goat control operations. This estimate does not include the costs associated with the impact of feral goats on the environment, of soil erosion, or pastoral degradation. [16]
On the positive side, commercial exploitation of feral goats is an industry worth about $29 million annually. Many pastoralists in Australia now consider the capture and sale of feral goats to be an essential part of their business. Meat for export is the main product from feral goats. Some live feral goats are also exported. Goat skin is a by-product. [26] Recently, feral goats have been crossed with the South African Boer goat to produce a heavier animal for export. [16]
Feral goats are also used as a biological method of controlling weeds such as blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), briar (Rosa rubiginosa) [27], serrated tussock (Nassella trichotoma), St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) and thistles (family Asteraceae). They are particularly useful for controlling heavy weed infestations in difficult terrain. [28] Goats have a preference for such weeds over other pasture species. Control of these weeds is usually expensive and herbicides are not appropriate in some environments. [16]
Environmental Impact
There are no documented examples of feral goats severely damaging large areas in absence of other herbivores, but they contribute their share of damage to the vegetation, soil and native fauna in areas of overgrazed pastoral land. [16] Feral goats can deplete the soil's protective cover of vegetation and break up the soil crust with their hooves. [29] This leads to wind erosion during droughts, water erosion during rain storms and can cause slips in steep areas. [16] Increased erosion rates can have a significant long-term impact on biodiversity through the removal of soil and nutrients, and the alteration of soil structure leading to reduction in potential productivity. [30] Feral goats may also affect perennial vegetation by feeding on established plants and by preventing the regeneration of seedlings. These goats, by browsing, can kill established plants by defoliation. They affect the regeneration processes indirectly when they reduce the ability of plants to produce seeds and directly when they eat young plants. Feral goats are particularly devastating to island ecosystems, causing direct and indirect impacts through overgrazing, which often results in ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss.[16]
It has also been found that the removal of feral goats lead to a decline in introduced annual grasses and an increase in native woody perennials and introduced fire-promoting perennial grasses. [31] So, even though the initial impact of goats is often difficult to assess, elimination of goats may lead to increases in fire frequency and further invasion by introduced grasses. [32]
Impact on native fauna
Feral goats affect the native terrestrial fauna of Australia by direct competition for resources such as food, water and shelter, and by contributing to changes in ecosystems. These impacts are usually undesirable because they reduce the biodiversity of the ecosystem. [33] Feral goats compete with domestic stock for food and water, although dietary overlap in some habitats may be high only when food is limiting. [34] When it comes to water, feral goats can even exclude some animals aggressively. [35] The goats can cause water levels in rock holes to be so lowered as to exclude other animals or cause animals to fall in, drown and consequently, pollute the supply. Goat dung can be deposited around waterholes and springs to a depth of several centimeters. Dung, along with the bodies of goats that fall in water and decompose, is likely to eutrophicate the water and have a major impact on the freshwater biota. Feral goats also compete with the native animals for shelter especially in rock caves. They have also found to eat some invertebrates such as gall-forming and scale insects. But whether this deliberate or incidental is unknown.[16]
Goats are also considered a serious threat to yellow-footed rock-wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus) populations as there is considerable overlap in both species’ diet and habitat. [36] It has been claimed that rock-wallaby numbers recovered after the 1983 drought in Gap Range, New South Wales where goats had been culled but concurrently failed to recover at the nearby Coturaundee Range, where goats were present in very high densities because they were not culled. [37] Feral goats have been implicated in the decline of the brush-tailed rock-wallabies (Petrogale pencillata) in South Australia.[16]
The additional grazing pressure that the feral goats apply has two consequences in relation to effects on other animals. Firstly, this will increase the amount of time when food is limiting. Secondly, goats have a more catholic diet than sheep, cattle and kangaroos, utilizing many shrubs and trees that are unpalatable to these species. A broader ecological niche may allow goats to persist longer in droughts than their competitors and have a greater impact on their common food supply. In high numbers, and during drought, they may therefore significantly reduce the biomass of perennial vegetation, leading to further land degradation and hampering regeneration of vegetation. Goats are also a potential reservoir for a number of exotic diseases that could enter Australia, such as foot and mouth disease. Any attempt at eliminating a disease could therefore be frustrated by the difficulties and cost in controlling goats. [38]
Feral goats have a more indirect impact on the native fauna as a result of their effects on the vegetation and soil. The changes to the vegetation harm some native animals, whereas benefit a few like the ones that feed on goat dung, such as termites and decomposers.[16]
Management
High density populations of goats in accessible, semi-arid areas are best reduced initially by mustering or trapping at water so that the costs of control can be offset by the sale of the captured goats. To further reduce the population, or where the density of goats is too low to be economically harvested, aerial or ground shooting is an efficient method. Aerial shooting from helicopters is a good method in difficult terrain or at low goat densities. Fences have also been used to exclude goats from some areas.[16]
Management of feral goats has varied depending on the balance between their pest and resource status, and their legal definition in different states. Feral goats are mostly viewed as pests by most land managers. This has led to campaigns to manage or eradicate them. Some laws prescribe how feral goats are to be managed, while others merely define them as pests and leave management to the discretion of land owners or public agencies. State and territory governments provide legislative, technical and possibly financial support for feral goat control, and are also responsible for feral goat management on land held by their agencies.[16]
There is no current management policy for the control of feral goats in New South Wales.[16] A group of pastoral and state agencies presented a proposal at the National workshop on Feral Goat Management. [39] The proposal seeks to manage feral goats as part of a total grazing management program which aims to reduce the impact of goats on pastoral production and conservation values to insignificant levels. Goats are presently opportunistically mustered for slaughter. [16] In New South Wales in 1996, feral goats occupied an estimated total area of 11,400 square kilometers in 101 conservation reserves. Sixty-seven of these were in the eastern, higher-rainfall areas of the State, where the impacts of feral goats have been little studies. [40]
In Queensland, feral goats are declared pests under the Rural Lands Protection Act 1985. The widespread drought in Queensland has focused land managers’ need to reduce total grazing pressure in the mulga lands. The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage has an unwritten policy to eradicate goats from national parks, and has a program to do so from some offshore islands in cooperation with the Queensland Department of Lands.[16]
Feral goats are managed by the Australian Capital Territory Parks and Conservation Service when they trespass on national parks and reserves. Feral goats are not declared pests in the Territory, so their management on private land is discretionary.[16]
It is illegal to release goats into the wild in South Australia. Pastoral zone Soil Conservation Boards, with support from State and Commonwealth Government agencies, have embarked on a program to mitigate goat damage by promoting and coordinating goat control.[16]
In the Northern Territory, goats are classified as stock under the Stock Diseases Act 1994 and the Territory has no general management policy for feral goats. Feral goats are not listed as pests in the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1988, but this classification is under review. The lack of definition has allowed people to introduce goats to areas previously free of goats, including islands.[16]
Unowned goats in Tasmania are defined as feral under provisions of the Animal Health Bill and can be controlled if they present a stock disease problem.[16] A survey by the Parks and Wildlife Service in 1991 led to the development of a feral goat threat abatement plan and an ongoing control campaign. By June 1995, 55 of the 136 populations located had been eradicated. [41] Some management is done by recreational hunters and DELM has a feral goat control program on Crown land using the Judas goat technique and shooting from helicopters.[16]
In Victoria, feral goats are declared as ‘Established Pest Animals’ under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994. All landowners (including the Crown) must take all reasonable steps to control them. Feral goat populations appear to be small and isolated in Victoria.[16]
Goats are widely distributed in Western Australia, where they are regarded as a pest on rangelands. [42] The Agriculture and Related Resources Protection Act 1976 sets out landowners’ responsibilities to deal with them and to limit their spread. The principal driving force behind attempts to manage goats in the state is peer pressure among land managers. This results in community cooperation and coordination to manage goats, and legislation is only used as a means of last resort when all attempts to gain cooperation have failed. Western Australia has a feral goat management program covering most feral herds, and involves mustering goats for commercial sale to achieve the initial knockdown, followed by aerial and ground shooting to attempt to kill the remaining animals. [16] The success of aerial shooting to control feral goats in arid and semi-arid environments has lead to its widespread use in rugged and more densely vegetated terrain elsewhere in Australia. [43]
Some pastoralists have also proposed establishing managed populations of feral goats for cashmere and meat production in the semiarid pastoral regions of Western Australia. Recent trials have shown that because of the high capital inputs required and low fibre yields, cashmere production in pastoral areas is not viable. [44]
References
- ^ Coffey, Linda, Margo Hale, and Ann Wells; "Goats: Sustainable Production Overview.
- ^ McLeod, Lianne; "Goats as Pets" at About.com.
- ^ anonymous; "Goat busters track domestication", Science News 8 April 2000.
- ^ Goat Medicine: Horns
- ^ Experiments On The Function Of Slit-Form Pupils, Toronto Univ. Studies in Psychology v. 2
- ^ anonymous; Goat-Horn Spoon.
- ^ Addrizzo, John R.; "Use of Goat Milk and Goat Meat as Therapeutic Aids in Cardiovascular Diseases", Meat Goat Production Handbook.
- ^ Luginbuhl, Jean-Marie; "Meat Goat Production in North Carolina" — North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension.
- ^ anonymous; "UF, FAMU Work to Make Goat Part of Mainstream American Diet", UF News 2 August 2001.
- ^ Ekici, K, &alii; "Isolation of Some Pathogens from Raw Milk of Different Milch Animals", Pakistan Journal of Nutrition v 3 (2004) #3, pp 161-162.
- ^ a b The World's Healthiest Foods. "Milk, goat."
- ^ American Dairy Goat Association
- ^ Professor Martin Marshall - Deputy Chief Medical Officer - Department of Health (22 August 2006). WITHDRAWAL FROM SALE OF INFANTS MILKS BASED ON GOATS' MILK ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2006 (HTML) (english). non-urgent memo. Department of Health. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
- ^ Encyclopedia
- ^ Rolls, E.C. (1969). They All Ran Wild. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. In Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
- ^ Hodder, E. (1893). The History of South Australia. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company. In Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
- ^ Evans, J. V. (1980). "The Angora-mohair industry in Australia. Part 1. An historical perspective.". Proceedings of the Post-Graduate Committee in Veterinary Science, University of Sydney 73: 69-86. In Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
- ^ Wilson, G.; Dexter, N.; O'Brien, P.; Bomford, M. (1992). Pest Animals in Australia: A Survey of Introduced Wild Animals. Canberra: Bureau of Rural Resources, Department of Primary Industries.
- ^ Pickard, J. (1976). "The effect of feral goats (Capra hircus L.) on the vegetation of Lord Howe Island". Australia journal of Ecology 1: 103-114. In Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
- ^ a b Morris, K.D. (1989). "Feral animal control on Western Australia islands". Australian and New Zealand Islands: Nature Conservation Values and Management 2: 105-111. Department of Conservation and Land Management Western Australia Occasional Publication. In Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
- ^ Allen, L.R. (1991). "The eradication of feral goats from an island national park". Australian Vertebrate Pest Control Conference 9: 22-25. In Parkes, John; Henzell, Robert; Pickles, Greg (1996). Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Goats. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service.
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