Goats

Goats are amazing animals. Goats are tough and versatile and have more uses than you could ever imagine. Goats can survive and thrive just about anywhere.
A goat is a hoofed mammal in the genus 'Capra'. Most goats are referred to as 'domestic goats which are sub-species of the 'wild goat'.

Altogether there are nine species of goat in the world, however, the domestic goat is the most common. Goats are 'bovids' and are members of the family 'bovidae' and 'caprins' which are sub-species of the sub-family 'caprinae'.

Like cows and giraffes, goats are ruminant animals which means they chew cud. Ruminants have a four-chambered stomach which plays a vital role in digesting, regurgitating and re-digesting their food. Goats are herbivores (plant-eaters) who spend most of the day grazing. Goats eat grass, herbs, tree leaves and other plant material. Goats swallow their food without chewing it much. Later, they regurgitate the food (then called a cud) and chew it thoroughly before swallowing it for the last time.

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

Just like sheep, goats are considered to be the 'first domesticated animal'. The domestication process began over 10,000 years ago in a North Iranian town called Sangsar. The initial reasons for domesticating goats was to have easy access to goat hair, meat and milk. Goat skins were also used up until the Middle Ages for making bottles out of to hold water and wine for people who were traveling or camping.

Goats meat and milk is still consumed today and goats milk is becoming ever popular as a healthy alternative to cows milk. Goats milk is easier to digest than cows milk and many call this milk 'universal milk' as it can be used to bottle feed most animals.

Goat skin is also still used today to make gloves and other items of clothing. Angora Goats produce mohair which is a fine, soft, lustrous fibre. Pygora Goats produce a cashmere type of fibre. Both mohair and cashmere are used to make jumpers and cardigans and other types of woolen clothing items.

However, not all goats are just used for human provisions. A lot of people keep goats as pets.

Goats have many similarities to sheep. The only main difference between sheep and goats is that goats have shorter tails than sheep and goat horns are longer and grow in a upward, backward and outward direction, while horns on a sheep grow in a twisted spiral shape.

Like sheep, goats enjoy being in a herd. Goats tend to survive better when they are in a herd rather than if they were alone. Every herd has a 'Herd Queen', who leads the herd while browsing. Goats are also much more lively than sheep and their inquisitive nature makes them humourous, enjoyable and curious pets.

Goat Behaviour

Goats are extremely curious and intelligent. Goats are easily house trained and you can teach them to pull carts and walk on leads. Goats are also known for escaping their pens. If you have unsecured fencing, be warned your goats will be inquisitive and test it out and soon you will know where the gaps are. Goats are very coordinated and can climb and hold their balance in the most awkward places. Goats are also widely known for their ability to climb trees, although the tree generally has to be at a slight angle.

If goats are raised correctly and disciplined from an early age, they never develop any bad habits. Goats will butt each other, this is quite natural and normal as they develop an order of dominance in the herd. However if corrected from an early age they never butt humans or other animals.

A goat that has been teased may butt people as part of their 'play', which may start as kids, when it is no problem. It can be a problem if this behaviour extends to adult age and size. Hence start correctly: if a small kid pushes against your legs, never push back.

Goats make a bleating sound much like a sheep. All in all, goats make wonderful companions and pets. Goats are a pleasure to keep and give you many hours of fun watching them with their humourous ways. Goats all have very different personalities and different little habits which can be very interesting to observe.

Goats Milk

The average milk production of a dairy goat is 6 - 8 pounds per day. However, a high yielding Doe can produce up to 16 pounds of milk per day. Milking machines are sometimes used to extract the milk from the goats, similar to those used on cows at a Dairy Cow Farm. However, some owners of small goat herds prefer to hand milk their goats, usually twice a day.

Goats milk is considered to be very healthy in lots of ways. Goats milk is used to make many dairy items that are both tasty and healthy. These include: pasteurised and unpasteurised milks, cheese, yogurts, cream and butter.

Many people tend to choose goats milk as an alternative from cows milk because goat milk casein and goat milk fat are more easy to digest than cows milk. Goat milk is valued for use with the elderly, sick, babies, children and those with a cows milk allergy. It is also a preferred milk used to give to orphan foals, puppies and other animals.

Fat globules are smaller in goats milk than in cows milk and therefore remain dispersed longer giving it a more digestible texture.

Goats milk is higher in Vitamin A, Niacin, Choline and Inositol than cows milk, however, it is lower in Vitamin B6, B12, C and Carotenoids.

Cows

Cows are members of the sub-family 'Bovinae' of the family 'Bovidae'. This family also includes Gazelles, Buffalo, Bison, Antelopes, Sheep and Goats.

Cows are raised for many reasons including: milk, cheese, other dairy products, also for meat such as beef and veal and materials such as leather hide. In older times they were used as work animals to pull carts and to plow fields.

In some countries such as India, cows were classed as sacred animals and were used in religious ceremonies and treated with much respect.

Today, cows are domesticated ungulates (hoofed animals with two toes on each hoof) that we see very often chewing the grass in farmers fields as we walk or drive through the countryside.

There is an estimated 1.3 billion head of cattle and 920 breeds of cow in the world today. Cows are referred to as the 'fosters mothers to the human race' because they produce most of the milk that people drink.

	The mature female of the species is called a 'cow'.
	The mature male of the species is called a 'bull'.
	A group of cows is called a 'herd'.
	A young female cow is called a 'heifer'.
	A baby cow is called a 'calf'.

A cow spends up to 6 hours a day eating. Cows spend over 8 hours a day chewing thier cud which is regurigated, partially digested food. Cows each drink equivalent to a bath tub full of water a day.

Cows occupy a unique role in human history. Cows have been considered one of the oldest forms of wealth. Cows have always been of interest to man because of their amazing ability to be able to provide meat and dairy products, have been strong animals to work with and also reproduce themselves while eating nothing but grass. Amazing!

Cow Reproduction

The average cow is 2 years old when she has her first calf. Calves are fed from the cow until they are between 8 and 9 weeks old. It is essential for a calf to be fed their mothers milk from the start as it contains antibodies that protect the new calf from diseases. Two months before giving birth, a dairy cow takes a rest from giving milk in order to grow her calf.

During this period the cow is known as a Dry Cow. When a dairy cow gives birth, this process is called a freshening. All calves are born with horn nubs. It is common for a vet to remove these nowadays.

A young female calf is called a heifer, she is called this until she has her first calf. A young male is called a bull calf.

Did you know that cows never forget their calves. It is quite common to see them licking their grown calves just as they did when they were young.

How to determine the age of a cow

The age of a cow is determined by examination of the teeth and less perfectly by the horns. The temporary teeth are in part erupted at birth and all the incisors are erupted within twenty days. The first, second and third pairs of temporary molars are erupted in thirty days. The teeth have grown large enough to touch each other by the sixth month. They gradually wear and fall in eighteen months. The fourth permanent molars are through at around the fourth month. The fifth at the fifteenth month and the sixth at two years. The temporary teeth begin to fall at twenty-one months and are entirely replaced by the thirty-ninth to the forty-fifth month.