Goats can be very useful pets, but what is the difference between enjoying a pet and using that animal for gain?
It's an important distinction, because it defines your relationship. Are you a guardian and caretaker? Or is your relationship more like that of an employer, and hence a potential exploiter?
The question cannot be answered by simply asking "is my animal useful to me?" or even "do I benefit financialy from it?" The question is "Is my animal happy and healthy doing what he is doing?" and "Is this relationship mutually beneficial, or are the benefits weighted in my favor?
In a recent conversation with a friend who is a consumate goat lover and lives in a wooded area with a herd of 6 pet goats, my friend said, "I use my goats for browsing. They reduce the fire danger around my house". I replied, "That is not 'using' your goats."
What is the difference between keeping an animal as a pet and using it?
This distinction is best illustrated with examples.
Simply letting your pet goats browse your land and enjoying the result of that is not "using" your goats. Goats love to browse and you like to have less brush. This is a fortunate confluence of desires and results. It is not using. (However, the practice of usng goats for large, supposedly "green" clearing operations is another matter.)
Likewise, horses love to run. People love to ride. Riding your pet horse is not using it.
Do sled dogs love to pull a sled? I think so, but I don't know. But I do know that if they are dumped at the pound after losing a race (as I have heard sometimes happens) then that is using. Likewise some competitive horesback riders simply dispose of their horse at the auction when it is too old to win contests. Their fireplace mantles may be stacked with trophies but where is the horse that won them?
When you are using an animal it is a different relationship. It's more like being an employer. Employers use their employees for profit or gain, and that's well and good. When it comes to people, our society has long-recognized the potential of the employer-employee relationship to result in harm or exploitation and has embraced entities like trade unions and OSHA to mitigate this potential for harm. When people use animals they, too, have a potential to harm and expoit them. If your animal is working for you then you should ask "Am I paying the true cost for his or her services?"
So, look in your heart. If, in your relationship with your goat, you are committed to his or her health and happinnes and lifetime care and protection, then you are not "using" your goat, you are just enjoying a mutually beneficial partnership. If otherwise, then please don't represent them as pets and say that you "love them". You can't have it both ways.
When it comes to goats, it seems that people are especially prone to confusion about their relationships. In a recent edition of "Farm and Ranch Living" I read the following: "My goats are basically pets, but I sell some to balance out the cost of raising them." This, to me, borders on the schizophrenic. Either they are pets or they are not. If you cannot afford to keep them all, then keep fewer and don't breed.
We sometimes get emails from people who cannot keep their pets and say something like, "I've put ads in the local area in hopes that someone might want him. I hate the thought of him going to the stockyard if there is any way I can prevent it." This is another sign of confusion among pet goat owners. Just because some people eat goat meat, that doesn't mean it is OK for them to eat your pet. It is far better to have your pet gently euthenized by a veterinarian than to subject it to the terror and mistreatment of the stockyard, auction and slaughterhouse. Imagine if you moved to Korea, where I hear they eat dogs. If you could no longer keep your dog, and couldn't find it a home, would you sell it to the butcher?
Please be assured that my intention in this discussion is not to offend or accuse, but rather to clarify. The goat meat industry is growing rapidly in the US. It is very important that we, as pet goat lovers, achieve a better perspective on the difference between our pet goats and the goats that are not pets.
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