The Goat: Friend or Foe?

Abstract

The barren, lean cow as currency has had a barter value-like the dirty and tattered Treasury note which has the same value as the clean and new one-equal in African eyes to that of the fat and productive cow. In the same way there has been little attempt to appraise goats according to their intrinsic worth as productive animals. In return for proper methods of husbandry goats may be valuable assets to many African farmers but this is no argument in favour of goats in their present role in African life.