Live and learn. Ain't it great.
John
On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 9:36 AM, Mike Geary <jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Yes, my not so very subtle suspicion was that El Sr. Speranaza would run
afoul of the English Language once again he has not let me down. Goats
(which, of course, are not chimera) do not eat "mostly everything". Indeed
not. Goats eat oats just as mares eat oats but little lambs eat ivy. Goats
are reputed to be God's true omnivores, they are whores for anything, even
tin cans.
Except, of course, it ain't true.
A common belief is that goats will eat anything. Many people imagine a
goat eating a tin can. I don’t know exactly where that image comes from,
but it’s prevalent. A quick Google search brought back tales of goats
eating the labels off tin cans because they liked the taste of the glue.
*So is it true? Will goats eat anything?*
The answer is a definite “no”. At least for our goats. Prior to owning
goats I too thought they'd eat anything. I figured that of all the grazing
animals (goats, sheep, cows, etc) goats were the *least* discriminating.
Turns out goats are the *MOST *discriminating. One of the first things
you hear from farmers raising multiple species is that the goats are the
hardest to keep in good “body condition”. Goats like to “browse” rather
than “graze”, meaning they like to eat at head-height. They also like to
eat a wide variety of grasses and forages, easily getting bored with one
type of grass and quickly moving on to something else. You can't just plant
a bunch of fescue, orchard grass, and other common grasses and get away
with it. Goats will do fine, but they won't thrive in that type of pasture
management.
That's why, despite low fertility, our "diverse" pastures are perfect for
goats. It's a wild territory out there, filled with all kinds of weird
stuff. The goats can happily move from one species to another, picking and
choosing what they'd like to eat. In fact, when forage specialists from
UT have visited the farm they generally say just keep on doing what you're
doing. Maybe lime it a little and add in some legumes, but for the most
part don't screw up the diversity of forages. Roses, lespedeza, privet, and
other less-common "forages" (or "weeds", to some) are natural de-wormers,
high in protein, and won't easily die in a drought. They also grow most of
the year in Tennessee.
Goats' picky-ness doesn't stop in the pasture, however. They are notorious
hay wasters. Sometimes I think more hay ends up on the ground than I put
into the bin. It’s as if they take out the hay and fluff it up really nice
on the ground so they can lay in it. Hay is for eating, not for bedding,
goats!
Another good example of the goats not eating everything is when we change
feeds or add something new to their diet. For days they will refuse it.
Only after nibbling on it a few times will they really start to believe
that it tastes good.
We recently switched to sprouting local, organic grains (wheat, spelt and
corn), rather than using the grain from the local feed mill. It's not
sweetened with molasses, so it took some cajoling for the girls to give it
a chance. Now they gobble it up. The bucks wouldn't eat it for days. I had
to hold back hay and force them to eat it before they finally came along.
Our experience is that goats definitely will NOT eat anything.
More tears.
On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 6:46 PM, Redacted sender Jlsperanza for DMARC <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In a message dated 10/19/2015 2:38:36 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx writes in "Re: Impersonal Lit. Crit.":
quotes
"literally, we know a chimaera was a goat!" and comments "Oh, do we now?"
and
further quotes: "literally "year-old she-goat."
Indeed, Henry thought it _very_ subtle:
utrum chimera, in vacuo bombinans possit comedere secundas intentions.
which he translated as:
the most subtle question, whether
a chimera buzzing in vacuity is able to devour second intentions.
Geary knows that goats eat "mostly everything," but Popper would wonder if
it is possible to REFUTE that a particular goat has eaten _one_ second
intention (While Palin would possible refudiate the question as "hardly
subtle"?).
Cheers,
Speranza
Henry, D. P. Quaestio Subtilissima: the Metaphysical Bearing of Medieval
and Contemporary Linguistic Disciplines. Manchester University Press.
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