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Goat Day
"There was a goat, who lived on a hill,
He’d eat your coat, if you stood still.
He’d eat your hat, and chew your shoe,
And if you stayed, he’d eat you too!"
If there’s one animal that refuses to be taken too seriously, it’s the goat. Equal parts escape artist, lawnmower, and comedian, goats have been leaping onto roofs, chewing on laundry, and butting their way into human history for thousands of years. And now, they have their own tartan! Designed as an award sash for the agricultural show and community event at Gunnedah, New South Wales, the design is centered around a central stripe of lush green grass and buttery and creamy white stripes of dairy, a nod to the Swiss breeds who arrived in Australia in the late 19th century.
Goats are among the earliest animals to be domesticated by humans, valued for their adaptability, intelligence, and usefulness across many cultures. Female goats are known as does or nannies, males as bucks or billies, and their young are affectionately called kids.
Less charming language is related to the distinctive smell of the goat: both hircine and caprine describe goat-like qualities, though hircine is often reserved for evoking the strong and unmistakable odor of domestic goats. This scent is so distinctive that the element bromine was named after the Greek word brómos, meaning “stench of he-goats.”
Today goats arenow employed in practical roles such as weed abatement to reduce wildfire risks, and in past trends like “goat yoga,” where playful kids clamber onto participants’ backs during poses. But perhaps their most enduring contribution is in the realm of food. Goat’s milk is enjoyed fresh or cultured, and it forms the basis of a wide array of traditional dairy products. Classic examples include creamy chèvre from France, tangy feta from Greece, crumbly ricotta and pungent pecorino from Italy, and smooth, spreadable labneh from the Middle East. Beyond cheese, goats also provide milk for yogurt, kefir, and even rich goat’s milk ice cream, each carrying the distinctive flavor and digestibility that have made these products prized for centuries. 💚 🤍 💛 ❤️ 🤎 🖤 💙 🐐 🐐 🐐 🥛 🧀 🧈
There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat, which are one of the oldest domesticated species of animal, and have been used for milk, meat, fur, and skins across much of the world.
First tamed around 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, wild bezoar goats were selectively bred for their milk, meat, and hides. Over centuries, different regions emphasized different traits: in the Mediterranean, hardy browsing goats were prized for surviving in rocky terrain; in Northern Europe, breeders selected for steady milkers suited to cooler climates; and in Asia, fine-fiber breeds such as the Cashmere and Angora were developed for their luxurious wool. By the Middle Ages, goats were valued across peasant households for their ability to thrive on marginal land, earning the nickname “the poor man’s cow.” The 19th and 20th centuries brought more structured breeding, with Swiss dairy breeds like the Saanen and Toggenburg spreading worldwide to improve milk yields, while Boer goats from South Africa became the standard for meat production. Today, goats represent a remarkable history of adaptation and selective breeding, with each lineage reflecting the needs and landscapes of the people who raised them.
Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything, including tin cans and cardboard boxes. While goats will not actually eat inedible material, they are browsing animals, not grazers like cattle and sheep, and (coupled with their highly curious nature) will chew on and taste just about anything remotely resembling plant matter to decide whether it is good to eat.
Goats have been used by humans to clear unwanted vegetation for centuries. There has been a resurgence of this in North America since 1990, when herds were used to clear dry brush from California hillsides thought to be endangered by potential wildfires. This practice has also become popular in the Pacific Northwest, where they are used to remove invasive species not easily removed by humans, including (thorned) blackberry vines and poison oak.
Goats figure in the well-known folk tale, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." For various retellings of this story from Norway, Poland, and Germany, click the goats!