| The history of raising goats goes back almost 10,000 | | | | Modern times have left this ritual of raising goats |
| years to Africa and the Middle East. Their use has | | | | relatively unchanged, for the most part. Fences and |
| remained relatively the same throughout the | | | | automatic pasturing and watering systems for those |
| centuries, people around the world raise goats for | | | | who can afford it take the place of the daily duties |
| their meat, milk, hair, and usefulness as pack animals | | | | of the goatherd, but many duties still must be done |
| due to being agile and sure-footed. | | | | manually, such as giving medicine shots for illness and |
| Goat meat and milk are consumed virtually the world | | | | keeping the correct nutritional foods available. |
| over, being a daily food staple especially in the Middle | | | | In the years past there were only a few different |
| Eastern countries. The milk is made into cheeses and | | | | goat breeds in the world. Today there are many |
| other food items, the skins used as material for | | | | different breeds of goats through cross breeding and |
| clothing, housing and containment for liquids such as | | | | careful improvement. While there are many goat |
| water or wine. | | | | breeds available, only a handful are popular due to |
| Goats also make great pets, which early goat | | | | various reasons. The breeds include the Boer, Alpine, |
| keepers learned quickly since spending a large part of | | | | Toggenburg, Pygmy, Spanish, Nubian, Fainting Goat, |
| each day with their herd. The herdsman would take | | | | LaMancha, Angora, Cashmere and most recently, the |
| his goats each day to an area that supplied plenty of | | | | Kiko goat which comes from New Zealand. |
| fresh grass for grazing and clean water, keeping | | | | While there are various reasons for raising goats, the |
| watch over them against any predator animal that | | | | opportunity for pleasure and profit remain the same |
| may lurk. Each evening the herdsman gathers his | | | | throughout, whether the goats are for companion, |
| goats to the barn and locks them in for safety. | | | | dairy, meat or fiber. |