Goats Past and Future: Keeping Goats Healthy and Useful Sustainably

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Goats have served us in many ways throughout history, and their role is evolving, partly due to climate change and partly to do with societal changes. Goat history demonstrates how adaptable they are but, like any animal, they have their basic needs. So, how can we ensure that they continue to thrive and succeed in the roles we give them? Agricultural science is focusing how goats can be used in sustainable systems to deal with the effects of climate change, while animal welfare research is looking into how to help goats transition into their new roles and environments.

Goat History: The Story So Far

Goats were gradually domesticated in the Middle East starting over 11,000 years ago. Then they spread slowly around the world with migrant pastoralists and traders. As they settled in each new region, they adapted to their new environment over many generations. Together with the breeding preferences of their herders, this resulted in distinct types of goat in different areas.

For millennia, herds were mixed species, and their keepers were small-scale and often nomadic farmers. Goats had multiple roles: provision of raw materials for food, clothing, furnishings, and tools, as well as social and economic functions, such as trade, gifts, and ceremonies. Such systems are still widespread in parts of Asia and Africa today.

In Medieval Europe, goats had a minor role in tenant farming of the lords’ estates. They were marginalized during the Agricultural Revolution of the 1600s, as estates became enclosed and goats’ tendency to damage hedges was not appreciated. Goats were tolerated in mountainous areas and vital to poor rural families. Sailors also valued goats to provide food onboard during trading and exploratory voyages. Thus goats spread to the Americas and Oceania.

The Transition to Modern Times

Favor returned to goats in Europe in the 1850s when trading ships returned with goats from the Mediterranean, Africa, and Asia. As railroad networks grew, these exotic goats spread and became the basis of the development of breeds. Native Swiss goats were already well-developed for dairy, and breeders in Europe and America worked on standardizing their appearance. From the 1950s onward, the focus has been on improving their performance in highly managed environments, resulting in such high-yielding dairy goats as the Saanen, which has now spread worldwide.

However, 95% of goats live in Asia and Africa, and their numbers are growing faster, especially in hot, dry, and difficult terrains. These goats are native to their regions, having developed strong survival traits to cope with extremely harsh conditions and poor vegetation. Their productivity may be low, but they are best able of all livestock to survive and produce in their particular natural environment. They are important to the livelihood and social status of the low-income rural families that keep them.

Challenges of the Future

Our challenge is to develop sustainable systems and maintain the diverse traits that enable goats to adapt to changes. Animals divert energy to coping mechanisms when faced with adversity. We can help them transition by providing for their basic needs while allowing them to acclimatize to new challenges.

Climate Change

Climate change has already severely affected the hottest and driest areas of the world and is increasingly causing disruption around the globe. Disease outbreaks have increased and become resistant to antibiotics and antiparasitics. Biodiversity is threatened by the spread of development and intensive farming. Our animals need defenses to cope with such changes. Sadly, those breeds that have developed natural defenses are the ones whose populations are most at risk: the landraces and heritage breeds living in pastoral systems.

More Plentiful Predators

Nature conservation efforts have been successful at reintroducing or recovering predator species in many parts. This means we need to fortify our protective strategies and consider predator avoidance in our breeding goals.

Rusticity, Resilience, and Biodiversity

Modern awareness of animal sentience is changing consumer demand for more eco-friendly products and higher animal welfare. This presents opportunities for small-scale farmers with pastureland to market high-value artisan products, and this market has increased in recent years. However, the animals that will thrive in this system are the hardy, rustic heritage breeds that were marginalized during the last century and require conservation efforts.

New Roles and Management Systems

Appreciation of goats’ brush and weed clearance skills has led to their integration into land and firebreak management programs and services. These initiatives are growing and spreading in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. They require goats raised to browse varied plant species, trained to target the species to be removed, and habituated to transportation and exploring unknown pastures. Care is needed to ensure stocking rate, transportation, and temporary facilities ensure their welfare at various locations.

Other modern roles for goats are based on their ability to engage and communicate with people and their appreciation of caresses. Children particularly enjoy interacting and caring for goats due to their size and cuteness. Goats are increasingly employed for educational, recreational, and therapeutic purposes: as pets or in zoos, schools, petting farms, and animal-assisted therapy. Surveys reveal the benefits to children, visitors, and patients enjoy that such activities bring: from the pleasure of interactions, appreciation and respect for living things, to enthusiasm for responsibility and learning. However, goats are more demanding to keep than smaller pets and anyone wishing to keep them must be well-informed on their needs and care. In addition, goats need adequate training to participate fearlessly in such activities and should never be forced or subjected to stress.

Enabling Goats to Adapt to the Future

As goats face new challenges, whether due to climate change or a change of role, we need to help them adapt. Otherwise, our projects won’t be sustainable. We must ensure they can meet their basic needs. This requires a thorough understanding of the animals’ needs and behavior.

In a free-range environment, the long-term solution will include genetic improvement for diversity and survival skills. This requires a shift in our focus from breed standardization to include greater genetic variation and introduce climate-tolerant and disease-resistant traits.

Goats are the most adaptable livestock species for harsh climatic conditions. This is due to their small size and ability to conserve water and efficiently convert a wide variety of feed sources to energy. Their agility and ability to reach high-level vegetation enables them to access areas inaccessible to other grazers. In many regions, they have evolved mechanisms to tolerate heat, drought, altitude, disease, and parasites. These rustic qualities make them ideal for low-input systems with minimal financial outlay. However, not all breeds share these qualities. It depends on the conditions they have been selected to cope with. For example, those bred for high dairy output are more sensitive to drought and heat stress.

Future Breeding Goals

Breeding goals in production animals increasingly include health traits, such as disease resistance, good locomotion, good body condition, longevity, and fertility. In rare breeds, the focus is on maintaining diversity and avoiding inbreeding.

For the next 30 years, goals will include climate tolerance and resilience, especially in free-range systems. Researchers are identifying traits that predispose goats to cope with harsh conditions, especially in hot and arid areas, and the breeds that possess them. Smaller size enables tolerance of hot and damp climates, while long-limbed goats cope better with arid heat. Internal mechanisms have also evolved in tune with local conditions. Scientists are examining their genomes and have already identified DNA regions involved in combating heat stress and disease.

Climate-tolerant breeds need recognition, conservation, and their value promoted to farmers. Farmers may increasingly select for these traits with their herd, employ crossbreeding, or replace stock with better-adapted breeds. Genetic research will investigate how to quickly integrate genes for survival traits by testing and selecting for genetic markers and calculating breeding values based on markers throughout the whole genome.

Helping Goats Adapt and Thrive

While such systems develop, we must not overestimate the toughness of our goats. Even heritage breeds need sufficient shelter, ventilation, food, water, care, and protection to cope with extreme conditions. The most amenable goats still need the ability to adjust to new environments, people, and activities. To this end, research continues into goat behavior and welfare to ensure we understand goats well enough for them to cope with all we ask of them.

Sources

Mattiello, S. and Battini, M. (Eds), 2024. The Welfare of Goats. Springer:

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• Mattiello, S., Crepaldi, P., and Battini, M., Where Are Goats Going? The Future of Goats for Farming and Other Purposes.

Werner, R., Background to the Origin and History of the Cheviot Landrace Goat.

Lead photo shows varied goat types at Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats. Author’s photo.