AGRICULTURE REPORT - Goats: Friendly Animals That Can Be Car

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Goats: Friendly Animals That Can Be Cared for by Children
By Gary Garriott

Broadcast: Tuesday, November 29, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Goats have provided¹ meat and milk for people longer than sheep or cows have. There are several hundred million goats in the world. Each year they provide millions of tons of meat and milk. Also, the hair from goats can be made into wool for clothing and blankets.

Nomads² leaving Niger with their goat herd³
More people use milk products from goats than from cows. Goats' milk improves the diet of many families around the world. Cheese made from goats' milk is very tasty. In addition, goats are friendly animals. They can be cared for by children.

There are several ways to help goats produce more and better milk. One way is to give the animals high-protein plants like alfalfa, groundnut grasses and vegetable leaves to eat. The covering from rice is also high in protein. Providing a special diet for goats is better than letting the animals find their own food all the time.

Goats with horns seem to survive better in the heat than goats without horns. But all goats should have covered shelters where they can escape the rain and extremely hot or cold weather. If the goat shelter has a metal roof, it should be painted white to reflect heat from the sun. There should be plenty of fresh air inside the shelter.

Goats enjoy exercise and need to move around. When goats are inside a shelter, each adult animal should have at least two-and-a-half square meters of space. When they are outside, a fenced-off area should allow about forty square meters for each animal.

Fences should be about one-and-a-half meters to two meters high. Some wire fences can be dangerous for young goats. Their horns can become trapped. So make sure the wire fence is the right height for young goats.

Many of the same methods used to keep cows healthy can also be used with goats. In fact, sometimes young cows cannot drink a lot of their mother's milk because they get sick. Instead, they are given goat's milk to drink.

You can get more information about raising milk-producing goats from a publication⁴ offered for sale on the Web. It is listed at enterpriseworks.org. Click on the link for VITA publications⁵.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Gary Garriott.  I'm Steve Ember.

1 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

2 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

4 publication   

n.出版，发行；出版；公布，发表

参考例句：

• They don't think this article is suitable for publication.他们认为这篇文章不宜发表。
• The government has delayed publication of the trade figures.政府已将贸易统计数字延后公布。

5 publications   

n.发表( publication的名词复数 )；公布；出版；出版物

参考例句：

• The related publications are far too numerous to list individually. 相关出版物太多，没法一一列举。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request. 我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。 来自《简明英汉词典》