Dale is back from a three week study tour of goat keeping in India. It wasn't just goats; there were beaches, trains, buses, food and sightseeing involved. Here's the goat story...........
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| 35 degrees in the shade |
We took the opportunity of the break from the milking routine and before
the births of our four kids in March, to visit their ancestral cousins in
Kerala, India. Goats are a common sight there and in many towns and villages
they are left to roam during the day singly or in small family groups. Those in
the towns seem to spend most of their time sifting through any piles of rubbish
they come across (a far cry from our pampered trio) or, in the case of the
kids, playing ‘king of the castle’. They
disappeared from the streets at night finding their way home for milking and
presumably some food.
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| Big ears and fine coat for maximum heat loss |
However in the countryside of the western Ghat hills the goats were
taken to fresh scrub land twice a day and tethered, along with cows and water
buffalo, presumably to stop them eating the rice, or the tea and coffee bushes
since there were no field boundaries. Each evening we would see them being
driven home usually by the women or children of the household. We didn’t see
any fully grown billy goats and since Hindus who make up the biggest group in
Kerala are vegetarian we wondered how and where they dispose of the young male
goats. (I’m sure Tom will know!).
I don't know but I am guessing that the non Hindu population has recipes for goat curry
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