Random Goat Post

Amish_goat

Many Amish like to keep goats.

Goats make nice pets.  Some Amish raise goats to sell the meat.  A few I met in northern Indiana sell them to Mexican and Arabic clientele, for example.  Apparently goat’s meat is big in traditional Mexican and Arabic cooking.

The Amish around Kalona, Iowa, like to milk them.

A goat can make a great grass trimmer.  Chain to the stake, move periodically, and you have a radial mower of sorts.

Amish_goat_lancaster
I’m really no expert on goats.  But goats do seem to come in all shapes and sizes.  And varieties.  The weird eyes, horns, a cry that can sound like a human baby screaming, and of course, the goatee–it really is an odd beast.

These were about the weirdest I’d ever seen, however.  I took this photo in the Amish community around New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.  Anyone have any idea what’s going on with the horns here?

Amish_jacob_sheep

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    11 Comments

    1. I can vouch for goats being good for all those things — except grass trimming. It’s very labor intensive to keep a goat on a tether. If you do it near trees, they’ll destroy the trees or strangle themselves, or possibly both.

      I wonder if a lot more goats are now kept by Amish in Michigan/Indiana than there were ten years ago. Do you know if this is a trend?

      We got rid of ours maybe 17 years ago.

    2. I can vouch for goats being good for all those things — except grass trimming. It’s very labor intensive to keep a goat on a tether. If you do it near trees, they’ll destroy the trees or strangle themselves, or possibly both.

      I wonder if a lot more goats are now kept by Amish in Michigan/Indiana than there were ten years ago. Do you know if this is a trend?

      We got rid of ours maybe 17 years ago.

    3. Amish use goats as lawnmower

      Yeah it seems like it would be a huge pain to be moving Mr. Goat around all the time! That idea was a bit tongue in cheek. A lawnmower of the most primitive of sorts. I always see these goats chained up by the road wherever I am in Amish areas. I remember one guy in PA this summer who had a bunch of them chained up. One was so skittish that whenever you came near him he would freak out, take off running and naturally at about five feet into his run he would be violently whipped back by the neck. Amazingly, it didn’t seem to break his neck, yet he didn’t seem to learn. I don’t know if goats are the most intelligent of beasts.

    4. Popularity of goat milk among Amish

      Oh and I don’t have any empirical evidence on an increase in goatkeeping in those states, just remember that people told me they seemed to be getting more popular in Lagrange/Elkhart.

      The Iowa people were getting big on milking them when I was there a few years ago…I think it had something to do with the number of licenses that they allowed. I’ve never really seen goat milking on the same scale in any other Amish settlement.

    5. Matthew

      John, it seems some have made money by renting their goats for lawn and brush care. Consider the following story:

      http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/319789_goats14.html

      Sounds like I need to get busy raising some goats.

    6. Bruce B-T

      Hi, just for the record: the critters in the last photo are Jacob sheep (from the Bible). More info at http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/jacob/index.htm

    7. Bruce B-T

      Hi, just for the record: the critters in the last photo are Jacob sheep (from the Bible). More info at http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/jacob/index.htm

    8. I think these are four horned sheep. Do a web search on Jacob sheep. Mike

    9. Shannon Bromenschenkel

      Those are very interesting goats!!

      Thanks for such an amazing blog!! I love reading it!

    10. I have seen those goats with the strange horns before. Not sure what they are called.

    11. Oh and I wanted to welcome you Shannon, and thanks for reading!!It’s my pleasure! You have a very cool blog, your Amish photos are awesome. I’ve been meaning to revamp my blogroll and I need to put you and some others up there asap