Goats are gentle, docile, intelligent and inquisitive creatures. In nature, they live in mountain grasslands, and spend most of their time in social herds, wandering the landscape. They are pranksters, who love freedom to roam, browse, jump and climb, and are very coordinated, holding their balance in the most precarious places. Rather than graze, they browse, and prefer to nibble vines, shrubbery and weeds rather than just chew grass. Their coats are made of hair, and since they don’t have natural water proofing, they like to shelter in wet weather. When angered, they can retaliate with a strong head butt. Domestic goats are a sub-species of the wild goat. Both male and female goats have beards.
Goats can be taught their name, and will come when called and make wonderful pets, but need companions. They are ‘picky eaters’ and often refuse to eat hay that has been walked on or has been lying around for a day. They have been known to use their horns to open gates, and feed bins, and create and enlarge holes in fences. They are more lively than sheep. Female kids become sexually mature around 6 months and are bred at 18 months. The gestation period is 5 months and they produce 1 or 2 kids. Mothers’ recognise their kids, by their unique call and scent, not by sight. A goat’s natural life expectancy is 12-15 years.
The vast majority of goats in the UK bred in large commercial goat farms, are zero-grazed, and kept permanently in barns. Goat meat isn’t commonly eaten, so there are thousands rather than millions. Female goats are well known as patient highly nurturing mothers, which is why they are often used to foster orphaned or rejected lambs, calves and even foals. They are impregnated through artificial insemination, or mated naturally with 1 male serving 30-40 females. Like the dairy cow, they must be first made pregnant in order to produce milk. Most kids are ripped from their mothers after 24 hours, so her milk can be used for human consumption. Heartbreaking! The female kid will replenish the herd, in the dairy industry.
Goats may have to endure torturous procedures such as castration, disbudding and dehorning, and have no pain relief before or after. Castration and disbudding typically occur within a week of birth, and goats can be heard screaming. Goats kept naturally with plenty of room do not need to have their horns removed, and the possibility of infection is high. In Britain there is a growing popularity for milk and goat’s cheese (about 75% of goat milk is used for this). With changing demographics, goat meat features in Islamic and Caribbean diets, so goat farming is expanding. Many are sent for halal slaughter (Jews and Muslims).
Male kids can’t produce milk, and it is uneconomical to rear them. The recent demand for goat products, means farmers have had to expand their milking herds, and are left with greater numbers. DEFRA estimates that 30,000 males are born yearly. Most are killed at birth. Some around 12 weeks are sold to the very small ethnic market. When the mother’s milk production drops, she will be killed at a few years old. The unnatural flooring in sheds, and a toxic environment of ammonia fumes, leads to a number of chronic diseases.
Christians Caring For Gods Creatures 