Goats - farm animals of
domestic goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bo ...
(''Capra hircus'') species, small
ruminants
Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by Enteric fermentation, fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principa ...
- are widespread throughout the world and are used in almost any natural and
climatic
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...
conditions, even those where other productive animals cannot live. Different
breed
A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
s of goats are adapted to different livestock systems - from small herds of 3-5 heads on meager grazing to large intensive livestock farms, from year-round grazing to fully stable housing, with many intermediate variations between them. Goats are a source of several types of products, of which the main ones are
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
,
meat
Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
and
wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
. Among the goat breeds there are highly productive specialized, dual-triple-use and universal breeds. External differences between breeds are represented by many major and minor traits that vary in a very wide range. Goat breeds (especially dairy goats) are some of the oldest defined animal breeds for which
breed standard
In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include phenotype, physical or morphology (biology), morphological detail, genotype, g ...
s and production records have been kept.
Selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...
of goats generally focuses on improving production of
fiber
Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...
, meat, dairy products or
goatskin. Breeds are generally classified based on their primary use, though there are several breeds which are considered dual- or multi-purpose.
List
References
Bibliography
*
*
Introduction to Common Goat Breeds''
Mother Earth News
''Mother Earth News'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that has a circulation of 500,520 . It is published in Topeka, Kansas.
Since its founding, ''Mother Earth News'' has promoted renewable energy, recycling, family farms, good agricultura ...
''
''Raising Goats for Dummies'' (Wiley, 2010){{Breed
Goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
Goat breeds