Chat
02-23-2014, 11:21 AM
Do you worry that having the dams be feral might have a more negative impact on the offspring than if the dams were domestic and the sires were feral? I mean, it seems that an awful lot of what an animal learns is from their mother. If the mother is bonded with people, the kids are too and vice versa.
It will be an interesting experiment, but I would definitely worry about the bonding issue. A lot of people have tried feral/domestic hybrids over the years, and the outcomes are usually pretty dodgy. You often get an animal that is less trusting of people, rather unpredictable (especially around strangers), more difficult to train, and almost impossible to sell should your situation change. And I wonder if they will have any work ethic at all. The biggest, strongest goat in the world will do you no good if it is skittish, won't follow you, or refuses to work when the going gets tough.
Of course, I can't say too much--I'm crossing Alpines with Nubians to see if I can get pack goats even though Nubians are well-known for being loud, lazy, and stupid. Cuzco may just be an anomaly, but I can't help but feel that it may have something to do with the fact that his mother was the Alpine and he took on her personality. If nothing else, at least I have a fall-back on the dairy market if they all turn out to be packing duds. Human kind would never accomplish anything if we didn't experiment once in a while!
It will be an interesting experiment, but I would definitely worry about the bonding issue. A lot of people have tried feral/domestic hybrids over the years, and the outcomes are usually pretty dodgy. You often get an animal that is less trusting of people, rather unpredictable (especially around strangers), more difficult to train, and almost impossible to sell should your situation change. And I wonder if they will have any work ethic at all. The biggest, strongest goat in the world will do you no good if it is skittish, won't follow you, or refuses to work when the going gets tough.
Of course, I can't say too much--I'm crossing Alpines with Nubians to see if I can get pack goats even though Nubians are well-known for being loud, lazy, and stupid. Cuzco may just be an anomaly, but I can't help but feel that it may have something to do with the fact that his mother was the Alpine and he took on her personality. If nothing else, at least I have a fall-back on the dairy market if they all turn out to be packing duds. Human kind would never accomplish anything if we didn't experiment once in a while!