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    There are about 450 million goats in the world including ones that escaped into the wild.   Goats live worldwide in warm and temperate countries.  Scientists think that today's goats came from the wild goat or bezoars.  Three-fourths of all goats are  found in Africa or Asia.  They are also in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. There is one kind of goat but 210 different breeds of them.

    A male goat is called a Billy or ram.  A female goat is called a nanny or doe.  A young goat is called a kid until it is a year old.     
   Goats can be raised just about anywhere because they eat just about anything.  They have tough lips and can even eat thorny things.  They usually like vegetables of any kind.  Goats are like cows because they have a couple of stomachs that help when they try to digest some of the stuff that they eat.

    We visited a goat farm.  While we visited, they were burning the new horns from baby goats.  We felt very sad about this, but farmers do it because they will hurt each other with the horns if they keep them.  It wasn't pretty, though.

    Goats are pregnant about five months and have between one and three kids.  A ram is between 27 and 275 pounds and nanny goats are between 22 and 220 pounds.  They can be between 16 and 40 inches tall.  Goats are usually white, beige, brown, or black.  They usually live around eleven years. Goats are usually kept in dry places.
    Goat's milk isn't the big industry that cow's milk is.   Goat's milk tastes good and is easier to digest than cow's milk.  This is good for people who have digestive problems.  Goat's milk makes good cheese but doesn't make very good butter. 
    Different kinds of goats are good for different things.  Anglo-Nubians give about 920 gallons of milk a year.  Some goats have fleecy hair that is even better than sheep fleece.  The Angora has white fleece that is long enough to hang down in shiny curls.  When this is sheared, or shaven off, it can give about 11 pounds of fleece.  Mohair is a silky fiber that dyes well. 

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