The goat is one of the earliest, if not the earliest, example of an animal to be domesticated by humans. The word goat actually stems from the old English gat, meaning “she-goat,” whereas the word for male goat was bucca, which we know today as “buck.” By the eighteenth century, females would also come to be known as “nannies” or “nanny goats,” while males would become known as “billys” in the nineteenth century.

A member of the Bovidae family, the goat was domesticated in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. While our modern goat breeds are subspecies of the wild goats found in southwest Asia and eastern Europe, it is thought that the wild bezoar (wild Iranian goat) is the origin of all domestic goats.

Remains of goats have been found that date back as far as 10,000 years at sites including Jericho in Palestine and Djeitun in what is now Afghanistan. They seem to have been usually kept in herds under the watchful eye of children or teens, referred to as shepherds.

For better or worse (from the goat’s point of view), goats played a role in a number of histories, mythologies, and other belief systems. The Greek satyr Pan was half man and half goat, with the head and torso of a man, and the ears, horns, and lower body of a goat. Although he was a god of fields, words, and flocks, Pan did not always carry a good reputation with him; it is from Pan that we derive the words panic and pandemonium.

In ancient Syria, records relate the story of a she-goat, which was draped in silver necklaces and driven away from the town in a ritual of purification of the town in anticipation of the king’s wedding. It was thought that the animal would also carry away any and all evils surrounding the town and that day. And before the Yule goat was made of straw, the title referred to the goats slaughtered at the festival of Yuletide. In Scandinavia, the Yule goat is seen as the deliverance of gifts and glad tidings. However, the Finnish see the Yule goat as something more horrific, something that scares away evil and bad luck.

By the sixteenth century, goats had arrived in North America with the Spanish explorers, with the English bringing them to New England in the seventeenth century. However, it is also said that Columbus brought goats with him when he arrived in America in 1492.

Although goats as a whole did not have much value until the Civil War, by the 1850s Angora goats were being imported to the United States for their hair, which is known as mohair. The main production area for mohair was Texas.

The advent of the twentieth century witnessed the introduction of European dairy breeds into the United States, with breeds such as Saanen, Alpine, and Toggenburg, which would soon replace or be crossbred with English and Spanish goats due to their outstanding production. The first pure meat goat, the Boer, was imported to the United States in 1993 from South Africa.

Considered small livestock, there are over 400 million goats worldwide still being used for milk, meat, work, hide, and hair as they were centuries ago. In fact, more goat meat and milk is consumed worldwide than that of any other animal.

However, regardless of how long goats have been domesticated and (as of the twentieth century) looked upon as pets for some households, if left to their own devices, goats can easily become feral (wild) animals, showing just how tough and self-reliant these animals still can be.

Goat cheese on pita bread is a delicious example of the goat’s contribution to cuisine. Photo by jeffreyw under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.

This book will guide the potential new goat owner through the basics of keeping these highly useful and ever-comical creatures on his/her homestead or urban farm (yes, some cities do now allow goats). It will give you an idea of the different aspects of care providing and help in your decision to bring goats into your home. Whether kept for milk, meat, or both, a goat is one of the best investments a new homesteader or urban farmer can make if they are in a position to do so.

As a final note, you will see the following terms used throughout, which refer to the various stages of a goat’s life and its sex:

• Female: doe, nanny

• Intact male: buck, billy

• Castrated male: wether

• Offspring: kids