‘Poor man’s cow’ has a rich heritage

IT has often been said that Puck Fair, in Killorglin, is a primitive festival, built around homage to a hairy, long-horned goat, not to mention worship, at the same time, of the god Bacchus.

But the goats that really matter today are tame – even friendly – unlike their wild relative that “presides” over one of Ireland’s most famous fairs from a lofty perch 50 ft above the heads of thousands of revellers “acting the goat” beneath his cage.

For all his regal trappings – there’s even a crown placed around his horns – the Killorglin puck is a figure of frivolity. His tamer relations, however, have a different, far more practical image. The goat, an old friend of humanity, is regaining some of the respect it once enjoyed.

Wild goats are still to be found in the Kerry hills and in places such as the Burren, straddling counties Clare and Galway, but the vast majority of goats in the country are milk producers. The goat has been recognised from early civilisation for its milk. In times past, goats could be found on many smaller farms around the country and was often dubbed the “poor man’s cow”.

Sometimes, goats suffer from a bad image, but people familiar with them describe them as clean, friendly, inquisitive, active animals fond of companionship and responsive to humans.

There are now 200 dairy goat farmers in Ireland, with herd sizes ranging from 10 to 750 animals. It’s a growth area, with an increasing demand for goat’s milk for cheese, yoghurt, ice cream and milk consumption in the home.

The Department of Agriculture census of sheep and goats in 2008 showed the domesticated goat population now stands at 7,279, a 43% increase on the previous year. And, as people become ever more conscious of the need to consume healthy foods, there’s every reason to presume the graph will continue upwards. An idea for alternative farming, maybe! Ireland has the highest rate of asthma in Europe and the fourth highest rate in the world. Doctors regularly prescribe goat’s milk for children that suffer from asthma and eczema and those finding it difficult to digest the fat in cow’s milk. At present, the demand for goat’s milk is not met during the winter and milk has to be imported from Holland.

The above-quoted census shows Co Clare to have the largest number of goats in Ireland, 1,029, followed by Westmeath, on 984, and Meath, on 721. Teagasc has a policy advising people setting up goat enterprises and also runs courses for potential goat farmers.

There are financial incentives, with grants of up to 40% for milking premises and equipment.

“As goats are extremely clean animals, there should be no problem producing high quality milk to conform to the EU standards,” said a Teagasc spokesman.

The well-known Cleire Goats’ farm, on Cape Clear Island, west Cork, offers practical courses in goat husbandry, designed for people with little or no experience of the goat, to gain a basic understanding of the animal, its handling and management. Farm owner Ed Harper, a teacher with more than 20 years of goat-keeping experience, can pass on the necessary goat-handling skills.

The wild Irish goats of the Burren have been symbolic of that unique region and its way of life since the earliest times. Hundreds of “cros” (stone huts used to house young goat kids) are still visible in the Burren. Today, however, the goat is seen by many as a nuisance – it can spoil grassland areas and knock walls – and this has led to the decline of the Old Irish Goat.

In 2007 the Heritage Council made a biodiversity grant available to a Burren farmer for the erection of a 20-acre enclosure to secure a number of the Old Irish breed.

In recent years Raymond Werner, who has explored the origin of wild goats in Europe and Britain, has been a regular visitor to the Burren where he has discovered a significant number of the old Irish.

He believes the best way to ensure the future of the breed is to select stock and place these in areas where they can safely exist. He suggests national parks, islands and other isolated areas as suitable locations where the stock should thrive.

In the Heritage Outlook magazine, he said the goat was so integral to the history of the Burren that communities over the ages would hardly have survived without it. Mr Werner went on: “It was the goat that initially helped open up the landscape to farming, following which they settled down to provide meat, hair, hides, fat and milk as an undemanding, almost predator-proof, animal that consistently helped stave off starvation when all else around the poor farming family had failed.”