Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Perspectives on Goats and
Global Production
C. Devendra , PhD , DSc , FASc and S.G. Solaiman , PhD, PAS
KEY TERMS
Improver breeds—local breeds of goats that have a potential to improve performance of other breeds.
Bezoar —
Capra hircus
, the true goat, one of the fi ve wild ancestors of the domestic goat.
The Silk Road—one of the world's oldest and historically important trade routes.
Agroecological zones—climate, soil, and terrain conditions relevant to agricultural production.
Agropastoralism—mixed crop-livestock systems with extensive grazing in which households are on the move and
their livelihoods are involved with the system.
Range-based systems—extensive systems characterized by rainfall of less than 150 millimeters (mm)/year.
4-H Competition—a competitive event important in youth development education.
Rainfed areas—non-irrigated agricultural areas that depend on rain as a source of water.
OBJECTIVES
By completing this chapter, the reader should acquire knowledge on:
Where the goat originated
How the goat contributes to human culture
Outlook for goat production in the world
Outlook for goat production in the United States (U.S.)
Production systems in the world
Production enterprises in the U.S.
Constraints to goat production
Farming systems research
INTRODUCTION
The goat species is an important component of animal
genetic resources. Together with sheep, and partly
because of their size, both are commonly called “small
ruminants.” Goats have been associated with man since
the dawn of agriculture and the domestication of animals.
Goats were the fi rst animals to be domesticated by man
and continue to hold an important niche particularly
in subsistence agriculture in the developing countries,
and they support a variety of socioeconomic functions
throughout the world.
This chapter provides a comprehensive background and
some perspectives on goats and goat production in the
world and the U.S. highlighting and discussing the various
aspects of goat production. For brevity, discussions are
necessarily concise, and readers are encouraged where
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