Contemplation: Let’s Talk About Goats

I feel like I kind of have goats on my mind right now.  Part of this is because Eliza and I went to visit her friend Kirsten’s farm.  Kirsten and her husband John raise goats (amongst other animals including chickens and sheep) for their milk.  Last night I got to try said goat milk for the first time.  In my opinion it was absolutely delicious.  We also made a alfredo-esque cream sauce with the goat’s milk (this was also absolutely delicious). 

While it was quite rainy and wet yesterday I did get to walk around the farm a bit and became friends with one of the goats after I kindly offered to scratch it on the head.  I have to admit that I like goats, and I think that a big part of it is that they strike me as very intelligent animals.  Goats are probably one of the first domesticated animals (proceeded only by sheep and dogs).  They can be used for a wide variety of purposes such as for their milk, meat, and hair.  Some of them have awesome horns, other seem to lack ears (this was the case with the one whose head I gave a good scratching yesterday.  I think it is a LaMancha type of goat). 

Seriously goats are pretty fucking amazing.  They are a member of the Bovidae family of Artiodactyle (even-toed) Ungulates (note that Artiodactyle is the a taxanomical Order of distinction from the Class of Mammalia.  It includes a wide variety of species included goats, sheep, antelopes, cattle, camels, giraffes, deer, pigs, hippopotami, etc.).  They have these really strange sideways irises in their eyes that make them look incredibly curious and mischievous.  The word scapegoat refers to a goat that was to be driven into the wilderness to atone for the sins of a population (basically a beast to place the blame upon). 

Not only can you drink goat milk and eat goat cheese, but you can also munch down on some goat meat.  Goat meat is actually pretty common elsewhere in the world, but for whatever reason it has only been in recent time that it has begun to gain popularity here in the united States.  I first tried goat meat about two years ago and since then I would consider it one of my favorite tasting meats.  It is just tender and delicious, somewhat similar to lamb meat, and yet unique in and of itself.  I have not yet cooked it myself, but I think that that may be something to do in the not too distant future (maybe throwing it on Dan’s smoker). 

Look even great pieces of literature have bene written about goats: 

Goat Husbandry!

 Alright, I kid, I kid . . . this may not be the greatest bit of goat literature out there.  But hey, goats are definitely on folks’ minds.  Over at the OrangeCoat blog Roxy provided a brief contemplation on good goad farms.  Goats are used to combat kudzu growth. Goats can eat just about anything.  Some goats fall over when startled. Goats just look fucking awesome!  

So yeah, I dare you to think about goats a little bit and just how damn lucky you are to share a world with them.  I mean if we weren’t so lucky goats would be endemic to the Jovian moon Ganymede, then we’d probably never get to hang out with them.  Appreciate goats all, they are good times

~ by Nathaniel on January 25, 2010.