Know Your Goats E-Book

Jack Byard

• Herausgeber: Old Pond Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 38

Beschreibung

Goats are a diverse range of beautiful (and sometimes rare) animals. Billy or nanny goats are the source of many a children's story. Goats were taken into the human fold over 10,000 years ago. From some of these animals, we obtain the fiber to create exquisite mohair and cashmere clothing. Others provide (extremely healthy) meat and milk; the latter being frequently turned into mouth-watering cheeses. Wandering the fields, hillsides, and mountains, goats are browsers and prefer unwanted brush, briar, and weeds, their lips and tongues choosing only the tastiest plants. Extremely intelligent and curious, they are also experts at escaping from 'secure' fields. And, they can make excellent pets. Along with photographs, this book offers information on some 37 breeds of goats from all around the world, including size and weight, hair type, and history. (Series: Know Your...) [Subject: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Pet Care]

Leseprobe

Know Your Goats

Old Pond Publishing is an imprint of Fox Chapel Publishers International Ltd.

Project Team

Vice President–Content: Christopher Reggio

Associate Publisher: Sarah Bloxham

Editor: Sue Viccars

Designer: Wendy Reynolds

Layout: John Hoch

Copyright © 2019 by Jack Byard and Fox Chapel Publishers International Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Fox Chapel Publishers, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

ISBN 978-1-912158-48-5

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Fox Chapel Publishing 903 Square Street Mount Joy, PA 17552

Fox Chapel Publishers International Ltd. 7 Danefield Road, Selsey (Chichester) West Sussex PO20 9DA, U.K.

www.oldpond.com

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

Printed and bound in Malaysia

22 21 20 19 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Cover photo: A thoughtful Angora goat.

Contents

Foreword

1 Anatolian Black

2 Angora

3 Appenzell

4 Arapawa

5 Bagot

6 Bilberry

7 Bionda dell’ Adamello

8 Boer

9 British Alpine

10 British Primitive

11 Brown Shorthair

12 Chamois

13 Dutch Landrace

14 Fainting

15 Girgentana

16 Golden Guernsey

17 Icelandic

18 Kiko

19 Kinder

20 La Mancha

21 Messinese

22 Nigora

23 Nubian

24 Oberhasli

25 Peacock

26 Poitou

27 Pygmy

28 Pygora

29 Rove

30 Saanen

31 San Clemente Island

32 Savanna

33 Spanish

34 Stiefelgeiss

35 Toggenburg

36 Valais Blackneck

Acknowledgements

Picture Credits

Angora goats.

Foreword

Goats are a diverse range of beautiful (and sometimes rare) animals. Bucks and does, billies or nannies, are the source of many a children’s story (who hasn’t read the Norwegian fairy tale The Three Billy Goats Gruff to their children?). Goats were taken into the human fold more than ten thousand years ago and most breeds have been wandering the fields, hillsides and mountains since time immemorial. From some we obtain fibre to create exquisite mohair and cashmere clothing. Others give us possibly more mundane (but equally important and extremely healthy) meat and milk, the latter frequently being turned into mouth-watering cheeses, bringing joy to me and a living to many farmers.

Goats are browsers and prefer unwanted brush, briar and weeds to grass, their lips and tongues selecting only the tastiest plants. Extremely intelligent and curious, they are also experts at escaping from the most secure fields.

In addition they make excellent pets: you may look twice when you see a goat wandering through a hospital ward, nursing home or rehabilitation centre, but therapy goats “bring love, affection, laughter and calmness to people ailing in mind, body or spirit”.

Jack Byard, Bradford, 2019

NOTE: All weights, sizes and measurements in this book are averages based on breed records and the terrain in which the animals live. Male goats are known as billy or buck; female goats as nanny or doe.

1 Anatolian Black

Characteristics

Weight: 99–198 lb (40–90 kg).

Height: 28–40 in (70–100 cm).

Both billies and nannies have curved horns.

The Anatolian Black has been domesticated and bred on small farms in what is now Turkey since 700 BC. It is described as the Syrian type, with long droopy ears and long hair.

This calm gentle mountain breed is normally found in large herds around the Mediterranean and Aegean regions and is well adapted to survive the wild weather and sparse feed; the long, thick, hairy undercoat insulates the animal against the cold. They are occasionally brown, grey or pied, and have a tremendous tolerance to disease. They breed all the year round, feeding on grass and small pine, olive and almond saplings and grain. If there is plenty of food available for the goats the breeder will set up camp along with the herd.

The Anatolian Black is also a brilliant mowing machine. Some say the breed is aggressive and dangerous, but experts confirm that this is not the case. The Anatolian Black is bred for its milk and meat and for its fibre: it sheds 1 lb (0.45 kg) a year.

2 Angora

Characteristics

Weight: male 180–225 lb (82–102 kg), female 100–110 lb (45–50 kg).

Height: male 48 in (122 cm), female 36 in (92 cm).

Both have gently curving horns.