Click through the gallery to see some fun facts!
Goats are browsers, not grazers and prefer stems and twigs.
They can stand on their back legs, improving range and access.
Some goats have wattles under their chin, a remnant of fish gills.
Goats are very social and curious.
Goats are seasonal – as is goat cheese – and twins and triplets are common. Their hormones are triggered by the shortening of days to breed in the fall.
There are many breeds of goat, each one coming from a different part of the world: English, Bagot, Golden Guernsey, San Clemente, Spanish, Tennessee Fainting, Nigerian Dwarf, Oberhasli, Nubian, Boer and Kiko.
In ancient times Zeus was supposedly suckled by a goat, Aphrodite rode one and the Moon was pulled across the sky by one.
Words that come from goats and their behavior: to be capricious…to kid around…to have a goatee…caper aka escapade.
Mohair and cashmere are harvested from goat.
Goats can give milk at 9 to 10 months at a go – the milk gets richer and fattier at the beginning and the end of the cycle.
The artisan goat movement was started in the 1970s by women making goat cheese. Mary Keen (Humbolt Fog), Allison Hooper (Vermont Creamery), Laura Chanel (Chanel Chevre), Judy Shad (Capriole).
