Now that we have gotten all of the paltry reasons why humans through the years have not liked goats, we can get into discussing what makes goats so great! The reasons are endless, and we start learning them from a young age.
Goats do not have a particularly high-profile presence in the world of children’s popular culture, but they are notable for how their beloved traits in real life come across even in kiddie cartoons and picture books. One of these traits is their affinity to living in herds, which is convenient for farmers who raise many goats and relatable to children whose world hasn’t grown much beyond their family.
When I asked a group of college students which goats they remembered from their childhood, the first and most common answer was the tale of the Billy Goats Gruff. For those unfamiliar, this is a fairy tale that originated in Europe about the Gruff family of goats. The three goats are trying to get to the other side of a bridge in order to get the best grass. The smallest and youngest tries to cross first, but a troll comes from under the bridge to eat him. The little goat reasons with the troll that he should wait to eat the next goat because he is bigger with more meat. The second goat comes and the troll again comes to have a meal, but the goat convinces the troll to wait for the oldest brother for a larger meal yet. The oldest Gruff comes and the troll again comes from under the bridge in hopes of gobbling up the goat, but this goat is big and strong and knocks the troll off of the bridge with his horns.
Source: lenoreweiss.com
At its core, this is a funny little tale about three brother goats that look out for one another, featuring a lesson against greed. A lesser-known fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm features another family of goats with one mom goat and 7 kids. When the mother goes away for the day, she warns the kids not to open the door. After being tricked by a flour-covered wolf speaking in falsetto, the kids open the door and 6/7 are eaten. When the mother gets home, she and the little goat rescue their family by cutting into the wolf’s stomach. They fill it with rocks and when he goes for a drink he falls in the water and drowns. The goat family, however, is complete and happy.
The goats that appear in more recently written children’s literature are a little less ferocious. My friend Lexie recalled reading about Gregory the goat when she was younger in the picture book Gregory the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmet, in which his goat parents teach Gregory healthy eating habits. The half-goat fawn Mr. Tumnus of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is beloved by young readers for how he befriends Lucy Pevensie and gives her a semblance of family in the strange land of Narnia.
Mr. Tumnus and Lucy Source: narniaweb.com
Just like children, goats need friends and family. Remember that if you’re ever thinking about buying a goat, make sure it will have hooved friends in its new home!
Male goats stink. In order to get the girl goats to be their baes, the male goats pee on themselves to get a manly musk . When they are ready to breed, in heat, male goats are also incredibly aggressive and can be dangerous to a person who does not know how to properly handle them.
When goats attack! Source: hilariousgifs.com
This is one of the reasons I’ve heard people say that they do not like goats. Other complaints include that they are prone to escaping, being curious and active animals that need simulation, and that they are herd animals, so you can never have just one.
Some people don’t like the taste of goats’ milk or cheese, or will flat-out refuse to try it because it is different from the conventional cow milk.
Anti-goat sentiment is not new. It can even be seen in the Bible. In Matthew 25: 31-46, Jesus used a parable of sheep and goats for his followers. He said that, at the end of time, “He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” (versus 32-33). On one hand, this is a necessary task for shepherds due to the differing dietary need and temperaments of goats and sheep. In this parable, though, the sheep symbolize those who go to heaven and the goats are the ones that go to hell. This perception of goats as “badies” was deeply engrained in Jewish and early Middle Eastern culture and relatable to his listeners.
In Medieval Europe, goats made no friends in the torture circuit. They were the unknowing perpetrators of the infamous “tickle torture”, a gruesome practice with a funny name. Victims were tied to a tree, with feet soaked in salt water. Thirsty, water deprived goats were led to the feet and would lick, them, producing a ticklish sensation. Later, this tickling turns into extreme torture when the goat’s rough tongue has licked enough that it is now licking away the skin on the feet.
Are around this same time, the figure of the goat became a popular representation of the devil. Pictures of satanic worship and the infamous “black mass”, the Catholic mass’s demonic counterpart, feature towering goat commanding devil worshippers. Even today, this image persists.
“Witches’ Sabbath” by Francisco Goya, 1798 Source: Wikipedia
One little known pop culture reference to this depiction of Satan as a goat is what is called “throwing the goat” at rock concerts, a gesture often done but little fully understood. Concertgoers point their index and pinky fingers skywards, and tuck in their other fingers and thumb. This gesture can be seen on the back of the band Coven’s Witchcraft Destroys the Mind & Reaps Souls album and is present in some of the key moments of metal music history.
Goats are not only portrayed in religion negatively, just as goats are not really bad animals in the world. In Ancient Rome, the Pan was a half-man half-goat god loved by the people. And the constellation Capricornus was based off the image of a goat, leading to the zodiac sign Capricorn. After isolating the majority of what has been said against goats, we will be able to see the overwhelming amount of support for what makes them incredible.
As long as humans have been moving and grooving, goats have been right there with us. Even when we started staying put, goats have been our constant companions.
National Geographic recently did a study to determine when the practice of farming goats originated, and how long goats have been domesticated. The research focused on goat bones found in caves in southwestern France, which were dated to be around 7,000 years old. At this point, the early Neolithic humans of Western Europe were on the move. The bones and other artifacts found in coastal caves indicate that the Stone Age Europeans traveled by boat and fished, and moved from west to east and back again on coastal straights of the Mediterranean.
Goats were the perfect companions for this type of travel. They are hardy, and can thrive even with little food, temperature extremes, and long distance travel. There were many important uses of goats for the Neolithic travellers, who could utilize hides, sinew, milk, meat, and even the dung of a goat.
They were virtually a hooved version of a Stone Age Wal-Mart.
Other scientists claim that the practice of farming goats dates back even earlier. Dr. Melinda Zeder of the Museum of Natural History, has exhibited research that shows that Neanderthals in what is now northern eastern Iraq were the first to switch from the practice of hunting wild goats to keeping domestic goats, around 10,000 years ago.
Research to support this claim comes from studies on the ancient skeletons of goats from this region. Researchers looked at the size of the skeletons and whether they were male or female to give hints as to whether they were hunted or bred. Larger males, which provided more meat and product for every kill, were the most likely to be hunted. Humans that were breeding goats, however, were more likely to kill males young and keep only one or two around for breeding purposes. This would leave them with a more docile female herd that was capable of producing milk and kids (baby goats).
10,000 yr old goat toes Courtesy of Smithsonian
About 100 to 500 years after this practice of breeding started, these Neanderthals moved from where they were to the more southern lowlands to establish farms. They furthered the domestication of goats by keeping them separate from their wild counterparts, which eventually led to goats separating into distinct breeds. What’s interesting about these breeds is that there isn’t as much genetic separation between them as there is in other species of domesticated animals, rather you could think of goat breeds as something like human race that is more defined by physiology than the genome.
The early development of the practice of goat farming has given the world of goats the benefit of having a long time to develop a distinct place in the world and a many-faceted role in modern culture. Goats can be seen as prominent animals in the Bible, nursery rhymes, folklore, and even in the Internet “meme” fad. The longevity of their importance makes them a fascinating topic, yet one that is constantly developing.
