, courtesy of Reeh Boer Goat Ranch. It's a bit of a drive and the timing has never been right. But I vowed, last time I talked to him, that I'd take an afternoon off one day that coincides with his work-at-home days and come up for a visit. So, I played hooky and took a drive. He showed me around, introduced me to the crew, and regaled me with stories about having lost two or three newborn goats recently to predators...coyotes and/or bobcats. Now, he herds them all into a barn at night. The place is equipped with motion-sensors, aimed outside the barn perimeter; the sensors are connected to lights and a siren. Apparently, he is determined to keep those predators away.
While I was there, he showed me some of his handiwork, some exceptionally well-done e-learning programs that he has developed for our mutual former employer (he's back with them, working on contract 3 days a week). As interesting as the technology of e-learning is to me, I have to say I prefer the goats...or maybe it's just the 7 acres, the solitude of the country, and the fact that I saw and heard more birds while I was there visiting than I have seen and heard in the past six weeks.
4 comments:
That is a complicated-looking goat... Does the guy get milk from them, make cheese, or stuff like that?
I think he raises them with two purposes in mind: selling breeding pairs for a profit and selling others for their meat. I can't imagine raising goats for their meat, but according to something I read not long ago, something like 60% of the red meat consumed world-wide is goat. I don't think (but am not sure) Boer goats produce mild that translates well into cheese, etc.
Boer goats are kept mainly for meat production. When I was a lot more involved in the goat world (and yes, there is a "goat world") Boer goats were a fairly new thing about ...oh...mayb 20 to 25 years ago. We see them more often these days. Many people up here in my area would keep a dairy goat herd and ship their milk to a couple of cheese plants and fluid milk processors, but breed some of the milking does to a Boer goat buck so that the offspring would be more meaty. Up here, as in many areas of the country, goat kids bring a fairly high price at certain times of the year -- Italian and Greek families wished to buy goats for Easter and sometimes for other holidays, and Middle-eastern families would buy them for Ramadan and other occasions. Those from the Caribbean bought older goats for barbecues and such in summer. I wasn't too interested in meat goats - we kept 3 breeds of dairy goats and showed our goats quite a lot. We sold almost all of our goat kids to people wanting purebred stock for their own herds. And yup, I could imagine that visiting a goat herd and being out the in country for awhile might be more interesting that e-learning... at least to someone like me! (-:
Glad you got away for a little break. Sounds like you could use the odd day to play hooky.
That is a seriously unattractive goat. I mean, as goats go.
I guess not everyone can be cute and fuzzy.
And why is there not a book or movie or video game called "Goatworld?"
Post a Comment