Hey Colorado, keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks!

The Goat Show Doc crew will be making stops at the Centerra Mall, Downtown Fort Collins, and Colorado State University to interview the unsuspecting public on goats and just how much they know about our favorite farm animal.  It’s like “Jaywalking” but with less chin and more hooves.

Let’s hope you all fare better than the folks at the Santa Monica Pier…

See you soon!

With the Goat Show Doc., our team aims to generate a recognition of the goat and all its wonderful qualities.  In the United States the goat has remained critically underrated in comparison to other dairy animals.  How can this be possible when goats are so widely used elsewhere?

94% of the world’s goat population can be found in developing countries, with Africa (especially Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia) and Asia (notably India, Pakistan, and China) accounting for about 81% alone.  As mentioned in previous posts, goats offer an affordable and healthy chance at livelihood in the most marginal and distant communities.  According to the International Livestock Research Institute (http://www.ilri.org/InfoServ/Webpub/fulldocs/Outlk2840/Goats.htm) “[goats] are distributed in extremes of climates: from tropical desert, characterized by temperature extremes such as in the Thar, Sahel and Negev deserts, with insignificant rainfall and sparse vegetation; high altitude [mountain] areas up to 2,500 m such as the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region; and the wet tropics with high temperature, humidity, rainfall and abundant vegetative cover, such as those in many parts of South-east Asia.”  Perhaps the goat should be the new symbol for global and cultural unity!  How many specific things (not to objectify) can you name that are valued unconditionally across nations?  I’m only thinking goats (but then again, that’s all I’ve been thinking about).

When it comes to more impoverished populations, goats simply represent hope and a promised future.  Sustenance aside, the basic principles of ownership instill a sense of pride and purpose.  So it appears the goats’ well roundedness globally also translates to their domestic presence as well, providing basic, yet profound mental and physical comforts.

I’ll leave you with an except from the classic song “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough,” which I think accurately represents the goat’s unbeatable environmental versatility:

“Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough to keep goats from getting to you, baby.”

Those are the words…right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-UvQYAmbg

If you’re a human, chances are you’ve eaten cheese.  If you’re like most humans, chances are you eat A LOT of cheese, and in many different forms, garnishing many different foods.  Be it pizza, burgers, pasta, salads, Mexican food, and more, cheese graces many a plate (can anyone think of a Chinese dish that uses cheese???).

So what if instead of your classic cow milk cheeses you replaced them with goat milk cheeses?  Well, you’d get all the benefits of goat milk like less fat and calories, higher calcium, more protein, more vitamin A and other nutrients, and digestive ease!

Goat cheeses (often referred to as “chèvre”) can be found in markets nationwide and in many flavorful styles.

If you’re feeling personally motivated, check out this site on how to make goat cheese yourself:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/02/how-to-make-goat-cheese-recipe.html

And take a peek at Redwood Hill’s recipe page to learn how to incorporate the many goat cheeses into great overall meals:

http://www.redwoodhill.com/recipes

Try goat cheese today!

The photos in this post are of a goat cheese plate made by Goat Show Doc’s own Helena Bowen for an 80+ guest party.  It was the only plate to be completely consumed by the end of the night!