Pack goat
As a pack goat one is as a beast of used domestic goat called. Pack goats have been used in the mountainous regions of the Balkans for centuries. The use of pack goats in other regions of Europe and North America was popularized in the 1980s and 1990s by Wyoming's John Mionczynski. Interested goat farmers organize themselves in associations such as the North American Packgoat Association or the British Harness Goat Society .
A rested pack goat is able to carry up to 30 kilograms or a maximum of a quarter of its body weight for several kilometers. The goats are particularly suitable as pack animals for small loads in the mountains. There they reach an average speed of two to three kilometers per hour on hikes lasting several days. As herd animals , trained pack goats follow the trek and do not have to be kept on a leash.
It is preferred to use neutered billy goats as pack animals because, on the one hand, they become larger than female goats and, on the other hand, they lose both the unpleasant but typical goat smell and the aggressive behavior of intact goats due to the castration. In addition to purebred animals, crossbreeds from different breeds are used for packing, whereby a cross between dairy and meat goat breeds is often preferred. The dairy goat breeds have a larger body structure, through the crossbreeding of the meat goat you get more muscle and bone strength.
literature
- Carolyn Eddy: Practical Goatpacking: Techniques and Tips for Raising, Training and Enjoying your Packgoat . Eagle Creek Packgoats, Eagle Creek 1999.
- John Mionczynski: The Pack Goat . Pruett Publishing Company, Boulder 1992, ISBN 0-87108-828-2 .
- Goat Tracks (magazine), editor Shannon Ashment.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ North American Packgoat Association. In: napga.org
- ↑ There is no complaint. In: NZZ , May 3, 2007