Scouting, Volume 63, Number 5, October-November-December 1975 Page: 81
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Scouting Magazine and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.
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She also said that there are educa-
tional programs worldwide devoted to
teaching people the value of control-
ling their goat herds. She recalled that
the British made in-depth research
into the problem of free-roving goats
in Pakistan, resulting in the discovery
that their worth to the poor in milk,
meat, hides and fertilizer outweighed
their harm to the terrain.
I also asked Helen Hunt about the
so-called "Judas goat" that leads un-
suspecting flocks of sheep to the
slaughterhouse. "Isn't he a traitor to
his own kind?"
"That's the unthinking way most
people approach goats," she said.
"They consider them betrayers, in-
stead of giving them credit for having
the intelligence to be trained as man's
helpers."
I've found goat owners even more
enthusiastic than dog fanciers. They
join associations as fast as they form,
actively support shows and meetings.
To a man, their slogan seems to be
"Every goat is a friend," and they
make much of the goats' intelligence.
One of the most vocal, and earliest,
milk-goat breeders was Mrs. Carl
Sandburg. A scholar of goat pedigrees,
she collaborated with the University of
Missouri in research designed to raise
the standards of breeders. Her Tog-
genburg Puritan Jon's Jennifer II was
the top all-breed milker, producing an
astounding 5,750 pounds (over 2,500
quarts) of milk during her 305-day of-
ficial test. Her husband, poet Carl
Sandburg, enjoyed the milk and cheese
produced by their herd at Flat Rock,
N.C., and was enthusiastic about the
animals. "Goats are friendly," he said,
"you can talk with them. A cow doesn't
know what you are saying. But these
goats come up very quietly and brush
against you, as if to say, 'Isn't life
good?'"
Goats have proved to be many
things to many peo'ple. Shortly after
they arrived here from England we
found another use for them — as har-
ness animals. From 1870 to about 1910,
harness goats pulling children and
adults in all kinds of carts and wagons
were almost as popular as the pony is
today, with perhaps 20,000 trained to
harness. Spurred by the efforts of the
rapidly growing Harness Goat Associa-
tion, the sport seems to be making a
comeback. I have ridden a goat-drawn
cart and seen goats respond to their
names and commands even more alert-
ly than a horse or a dog.
A few summers ago I climbed the
Austrian Alps with two mountain men
who used an agile brown-and-white
goat as a pack animal. It walked beside
us like a dog, came when called, sat
with us like a cocker spaniel when we
ate lunch and skillfully led the way up
mountain trails.
Goat owner Alfred Toombs said that
not only are goats pets and gregarious,
liking to make human friends, but that
they will give milk gladly for people
they like and withhold it if they dislike
them.
Scout Kevin Caswell agrees. He has
two Toggenburgs and two Alpines, is
past president of the Capricorn Goat
Club and has demonstrated animal
care and how to milk goats to Cub
Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. Kevin has
established a good business selling his
goats' milk and has won prizes at many
fairs. His Kitchamakin Romeo Bettina
Toggenburg has won several first
prizes and three Junior Championship
Rosettes.
This Scout, who has his own Maple
Grove Goat Farm near Hanover, Mass.,
won the Massachusetts Society for Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals "Gentle
Hands" award for proficiency in han-
dling livestock. Could be because he
thinks goats are clean and smart, know
their names, understand words and
commands and are kind and com-
panionable.
I think he is right. I was exposed to
the charm of this companionship when
studying tigers in the foothills of the
Himalayas. It was a country of abnor-
mally tall grass and we had to travel on
elephants. The well-organized camp
•was thrown into a state of confusion for
two days by a little white Surat goat,
"Talik." Our best elephant, Kali, had
adopted Talik and wouldn't let the
goat out of her sight, trumpeting, fret-
ting and refusing to move without her.
The problem was solved with a pair of
wicker-sling baskets, one weighted
with small stones for balance, the
other carrying Talik, slung over Kali's
back while she happily took us
hunting.
Goat breeders point out that al-
though their animals may be able to
live in areas such as India and Africa,
where cows and sheep would perish,
contrary to general opinion, goats are
more selective feeders than cows, and
will eat nothing that has been contami-
nated or that has been on the floor or
the ground (except growing vegetation
and plants). This is the reason most are
fed from mangers above their heads.
And goats don't smell; does are as
clean as cats. During the rutting season
bucks do have an objectionable odor,
caused by two glands behind the
horns. The breeding season usually
lasts from August 15 until March 15,
with the peak in November. A friend,
Ray Pease, remembers a lusty buck es-
caping from his pen and breeding an
entire herd of 45 does before he was
caught. As breeding usually takes one
second, this probably wasn't unusual.
From that act, and the 150-day gesta-
tion period, come one to four young
once a year (twins being normal), with
the sex quite evenly divided. Kids are
born with teeth and are frolicking
within a half hour of birth. Goats usu-
ally breed at one year of age and live
to an average age of 12.
Currently, American goats are mak-
ing friends for us throughout the
world, proving to be more effective
diplomats than some trained in Wash-
ington. The Heifer Project (the idea of
Dan West, an American who helped
feed the starving during the Spanish
Civil War in 1938), so named because
its first livestock gift to the needy was
a calf, since 1947 has sent 10,347 goats
to the poor in 42 countries. Supported
by private contributions, religious and
fraternal organizations, the Heifer
Project not only gives goats to the
needy but also sends experts to teach
recipients breeding, feeding, disease
control and management. In countries
where there are native goats, the Heif-
er Project purebreds are carefully
crossed, so resultant offspring will give
the most in milk and meat.
An Indian friend who spent a week-
end with me not long ago remarked,
"One of America's best representatives
in India these days has four legs and a
gentle 'baa.'"
For some last words on these versa-
tile animals that may be man's oldest
friends, I returned to the farm of Miss
Helen C. Hunt, where I first became
aware of them. "Personality," says Miss
Hunt, "that's the word for the goat."
Eleven-year-old Scout Richard Col-
lins, of Rhinebeck, N.Y., sums up what
that personality means to him. "I like
goats," he says (he has a Toggenburg,
"Duchess," and his family owns three
other goats), "because they are not as
big as cows, and they give milk. Goat
ice cream and yogurt are great. Goats
also make good pets. They're gentle
and clean. You don't need much space
to keep them. They are worthwhile to
have because you can sell milk and
their kids, and you might win money in
shows." ■
81
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 63, Number 5, October-November-December 1975, periodical, October 1975; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353621/m1/89/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.