I totally feel the same way about having a new appreciation for goats. I had no idea they were so intelligent. The research you brought up is really interesting. In my opinion, I would also agree that it seems t be the domestication that has formed their behavior. Given that humans give them their milk from birth, I could see how they become so deeply bonded with people. The bond you mentioned that formed as they nursed their goat back to health is still interesting, though, given that the goat seemed to form a bond with a different human than the one that fed her from birth (if I remember the story correctly). Perhaps they don’t differentiate between humans, or perhaps the goat was aware she as being cared for, making for a truly remarkable behavior. Regardless, I’m also really glad I was able to learn and gain appreciation for this amazing animal.

I do agree that the portion on breeding was hard to get through, however to make the point that you gathered from his story, I think it was necessary. After reading this section, in a state a disgust the whole time, I realized that’s exactly what he wanted us to feel. We’ve become so disconnected with animals that we don’t even want to think about the most basic of animal processes. It was between the breeding and comments such as the one about removing blood clots from the milk (which made me gag a little) that I realized how much the “out of sight out of mind” concept we discussed earlier this semester is so applicable here. Although I didn’t fully appreciate the images initially, I’m glad Kessler opened my eyes to the reality of how our food is produced.

Agreed. Hilarious video.

Please tell me you’ve seen this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IuRzJRrRpQ

Absolutely perfect regarding your mention of how hilarious goats are.

You’re doing goats for your project right? Bring in some cheese!!

I like the idea of the “mutual relationship” he talks about. I felt like the goats were really a part of his family by the end and that he truly cared about their well being and safety. This is why he was so proactive about getting rid of the coyotes and called the doctors at first sight of trouble.

I liked that you wanted to go out and try goat cheese because I had pretty much the same reaction. I also really wanted to try that cappachinno drink he mentioned in an earlier chapter with goat’s milk. It was a really interesting book about an animal I had never really studied before.

I did not take offense to it, I have just always gotten squeamish easily whenever discussing biological matters this in depth. I agree that in many ways, including the how we sanitize dairy, America has to differ in method due to its size. Though he took a pretty extreme stance on it, his comment that now dairies could do whatever they wanted to the animals and the milk, as long as they pasteurized it, really resonated with me. The food industry is extremely corrupt, and many disturbing things happen behind closed doors.

As to your point about drinking milk during adulthood was not the evolutionary norm, I too thought back to that reading when analyzing his argument. Do we really need all the nutrients in milk, or is it just a marketing scheme from the dairy industry?

I found the breeding descriptions to be little more detailed than necessary but certainly not gruesome or gross. I pictured Kessler kind of smirking as he wrote it, but it just come down to basic biology that happens every day in every animal species.

I didn’t like his negative stance on pasteurization. He wrote that pasteurization kills or denatures many of the beneficial aspects that come from drinking milk, and I agree with that statement. However, it also is incredibly important for destroying the potential dangers that reside in dairy products. Now, he also states that there’s an alternative – rigorous testing similar to many European regulations. However, something to keep in mind is that what might work for a European country may not work for the United States, purely based on geographic reasons. Most European countries are the size of one of our states, and that small geographic scale make many things more convenient or practical (such as having inspectors go all over the country to test facilities). When it comes to diseases I’d prefer to err on the side of caution and pasteurize our dairy. Any nutritional drawbacks can easily be made up in other areas (as has been pointed our numerous times, drinking milk into adulthood is not the evolutionary norm).

I had some similar thoughts during the reading. I think it takes us back to the discussion we had a few weeks ago about coevolution being a part of the domestication of animals. Like you said, it appears that our relationship with cows altered our genetics, and likewise it definitely changed the evolution of cows. It seems to me to be a prime example in the argument that in domesticating animals, humans have actually just been acting within nature. I know we’ve talked about whether or not what humans have done has been “natural,” and it seems to me that the coevolution of humans and cows demonstrates that actions humans have taken are just as natural as the coevolution between any other two species. It’s all part of nature in my view.