Goat who thinks its a dog

(click photo for link to full story)


Wow. "The Three Amigos" have been adopted, and a law in Texas has been challenged thanks to media coverage and public outcry at the caprine portion of this threesome being threaten with a livestock auction.

"In Texas it's illegal to harbor stray livestock" - it states in the article, and so whereas the Great Dane was allowed to stay in a shelter, the goat was seized by authorities. Can animals of the same species be classified as livestock OR pets, depending on the circumstance? Just because it has hooves, that doesn't mean it's being raised for meat. And that aparently is what has been determined in this case - hooray! The owner of the strays came forward and signed them over to their new owners, so all seems to be right in the world, at least for these three.

The Gavleboken is UP and BLOGGING!!!! 2010 WOOO!

Sorry - I just cannot contain my happiness.

He's back he's back, the goat is baaaaack!!!!

























And - here is his superawesome BLOG!

So far we have learned that...

• His horns and beard are very important to him, and that this year, he will have 16 lights on each horn!!
• He is 44 years old this year.
• Lucia is a tradition celebrated December 13 in Sweden.
• One of the performers who played as he was dedicated was from Ace of Base!
• Check out the webcam (maybe he'll wave at you).

And now the best part - I got an email recently from Sweden with info on how to order my very own baby goat and support the guards who help keep the piros away. Yes, you need to buy one of these:



















and the money will go towards protecting the goat from getting flamed.

Please write to turist "@" gavle.se to get instructions on how to forward money to the tourism board and tell them where to send your baby goat! It costs 230 Swedish crowns.

The Sheep are at it Again!

They have organized themselves into some sort of symposia.... goats. This disturbs me. First, it was the alpacas and their festival. Now this.

I understand, goats, that you are independent. That you like to do your own thing, your own way. That you would never be caught doing something like this:






But organization is not always a bad thing! We need a strong Wisconsin showing - hells, we are American's Dairy Land and it ain't just because of those beefy bovine. Here are some links to get you started. Goats unite!!

Goat Poster

There is a lovely poster I have noticed in a number of libraries this year. Here it is:


























(click to go to the artist's DeviantArt.)

I... don't quite get it. I find it super cool, but until I did some research today I was like, "Is it a goaty Neptune? What's with the orcas tied to his belt? Why is he so huge? And why a goat?"

Well, it's Capricorn - the sea goat. Which in and of itself is a bit of an enigma. No one really knows why it's half goat, half fish (or shark or whatever). Probably dates to Babylonian times. Wikipedia explains how the horns may be the towers of Babylon and that the fish part could come from the Tigris river. It also states the Babylonian god of crafts, mischief and water, Enki, was represented by a goat and a fish.

The poster itself seems to have gone over well, but some bookmarks the artist did have had some odd detractors. In this post it explains the controversy.

The Goat Button

Go push it.

Goats and Cataracts

I don't like the magazine Mental Floss (too over-designed and full of itself), but, always willing to give a second chance, I leafed through it at the library the other day and came across an interesting tidbit of medical / goat lore. Supposedly a doctor noticed a blind goat scratch its eye on a thorn, then, once the eye had healed, the goat was no longer blind.


I don't know the full story behind this - but I did find an interesting Google Book called "Better Eyesight" in which Dr. William H. Bates retells a story of Sinbad explaining pretty much the same goat incident.

More Bock Beer

For my Bday my honey gifted me with an 8-pack of Fighting Billy Bock Beer (yes, the beer comes in an 8 pack - just like "Lazy Mutt." Eight, by the way, just so happens to be my favorite number!).


























Wow, kinda cool scan of the bottle cap. Anyway, I love beer that has a story on the label:

"HELP DISPEL THE CURSE The curse can easily be dispelled by showing a sincere fondness to Billy Bock. It fights only to maintain its dignity. What does "=" sign mean? It explains the relationship between bock and taste. Simply put, Bock = Taste. Chill Billy Bock to 45 degrees (7 C), call over three of your best buddies an help dispel the curse."


The beer is from Minhas brewery in Monroe, WI.

Yuengling (yingling) Brewery, the oldest operating brewery in the US, reintroduced one of their old bocks. You can read about it here. And get a tee shirt here!






























I also found this blog post, which has some nice bock images.

Infamous Goat Story

The book George Bush continued to read during the 9/11 attacks is actually "Reading Mastery II: Storybook 1." The story he was reading was "The Pet Goat." Copies of the book are for sale on Amazon for around $75.00.

How To Avoid a Goat

Wisconsin Tops the 50 States for Dairy Goats!

I just read in an issue of Wisconsin Trail's Magazine that Wisconsin produces more goat milk than any other state.

The Fantome Farm was featured in the piece and was one if not the first farm to sell chevre (soft fresh French style cheese made from goat's milk) made on their farm from milk from their own herd. Chevre means goat in French. Other goat farms selling cheese include:

Blue River Capri Creamery
LaValle Carr Valley
Cross Plains Dreamfarm
Mt. Sterling Goat Cheese
Westby Nordic Creamery

Pearls Before Swine

A famous Goat shares time with me every Sunday as I read the comic "Pearls Before Swine." He goes by Goat, but Wikipedia says his real name is Paris. I feel a special kinship with this goat, since it also states in the same entry that Rat makes fun of him for having a blog no one reads. Ha!

Too Many Pancakes!

As a follow up to my post about Goats on the Roof of Al Johnston's restaurant, I will share a few photos of the actual restaurant.























Outside of the restaurant. It was stormy this day, and so there were no goats on the sod roof. Supposedly once a thunderclap scared a goat off the roof and he ran across the street and into Egg Harbor and Al Johnston had to take a boat out to him to get him back!













































Probably a good thing goats can't read.

I won't share the entire Kid's Placemat with you, because I want you to go an check it out yourself, but I will scan in a few cute coloring pictures to give you a taste! (Speaking of taste, do have the Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce and a side of meatballs when you go!)

Grrrr...

A few weeks ago I picked up a booklet at the co-op of all places, which was promoting the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. This booklet was extremely professionally done, with ads and everything.

I am putting this out there as a bit of a challenge for the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association as well as other goat folk to pull something this extensive together.

Matacabras!

"The Goat Killer" beer is here! The Matacabra in Spain is a North wind that is supposedly wicked enough to kill goats. Dave's Beer Farm in Wilson Wisconsin, near Menominee, has a wind turbine named "Jake" helping to provide power. Farmer / brewer Dave has been crafting a beer for each of the 4 winds - he has already created Harukaze after a Spring Wind from Japan, and Kotura the Lord of the Wind in Siberia. I will have to look for it next time I am at the beer shop.

Iowa County Supports Goats!

Goats have more fun. I have proof. You will see no sheep in these pictures, except to cheer on the goats.





































The Iowa County Fair in Mineral Point Wisconsin finished off its yearly run today, with a 1p.m. Goat Costume Class and Agility Contest. The La Mancha you see above was being driven by the reigning champion at the goat agility contest. He ended up finishing third this year. Two young ladies bested him.

The goats had to put at least two feet into the ball pit (you should have seen how some of them flew through the air when the balls startled them!), then up and down the teeter-totter (the course lady watched to make sure they had a gentle time of it), then through the weaving sticks, over a small hurdle, and up and down one last ramp. That last ramp was where I started to get annoyed at the course judge, who took to pushing the goats up and down from behind. If you were a goat being attacked by a mountain lion, wouldn't you freak if someone grabbed your hindquartes? I know I would! There was also a little joshing about one girl "cheating" by resorting to using positive reinforcement (in the form of grain) to lure her goat through the course. Hey. It worked.



















This little goat - a miniature I believe, was the best at the course as a whole and ran it twice with two different handlers.

Finally, there was the Costume Class! This was just a few of the contestants. I felt the girl with the ladybug outfit and her bee goat should have gotten a prize - they were the first ones dressed, and her goat kept his deelie-boppers on the whole time. The winners were a boy dressed as a bee with his goat dressed as a field of flowers, a boy dressed as Merlin riding his goat (you can see him in the background - as far as I was concerned, he should not have won since his goat wasn't wearing anything - except a rider!) and the little Knight in the front with the green dragon goat who, I admit, was the cutest.

Sheep sells for big bucks

An ugly sheep recently sold for over $300,000 (click pic to go to story.)

Look at it. It looks like a dog dressed up like a sheep.

Goat Commerce!

I did a quick Facebook search for goat-related bars, restaurants and other industries. This is what I have found thus far:

An online gift shop called Get Yer Goat
A yoga studio and art gallery called Green Goat Gallery in NC (note: NC and SC seem to have a good amount of goat named things)
Thirsty Goat in FL
Simply The Goat - a bar in OH
The Surfing Goat Dairy in HI
The Goat radio station in Alberta Canada
Artois the Goat - a romantic movie about a man who "embarks on an epic quest to create the greatest goat cheese the world has ever known"
Green Goat screenprinting
Goat Island Restaurant - I think this is in TX
Goat and Compass tavern NC
Space Goat comic agency and production studio - I think they're in Seattle, WA
The Girl & Goat restaurant - in Chicago - that is run by winner of the show "Top Chef"
The Blue Goat concert venue in KS
The Flying Goat restaurant

And finally, a Facebook page dedicated to this commercial:

The Daily Goat

Ok sorry if this is a repost, but this is a parody news blog that has been around for a while.

Goatman

Oh yes. The cryptozoological world is afire with GOATMAN! Not really, but I found this on Wikipedia and had to post. Akin to Bunnyman, he attacks people with an ax. It is a real urban legend, based in Maryland.

Spokesgoats

Meet Hilda - from the book The Cole Family Christmas. Hilda is also the spokesgoat for ReadAloud.org.

I thought perhaps Hilda was the first spokesgoat, or the only one. But then I turned to the ol' internet, and lo and behold, look who I found!

































Gloria, the spokesgoat for Celebrity Dairy. Met her on Facebook. She's in an open relationship LOL.
















There is Gruff the ecologically friendly mountain goat that tells people to Recycle Stuff at Quad/Graphics.

Pricilla, Happy Goats Soap's spokesgoat. She's also a blogger. (Many goat farms have a "herd queen" that farmers use as their spokesgoat.)

Nanny, the spokesgoat for Rikki's Refuge animal rescue (who says Oreo Cookies are the best diet for goats).

Caprina, the spokesgoat (and new name) of the company formerly known as Canus.













Frank the goat on Livejournal (a mascot - not a spokesgoat.)

Wisconsin Meat Hall of Fame

Yes - Wisconsin has a meat industry hall of fame although it sadly does not contain photos of the largest steak or the tastiest chicken. It's mostly a bunch of guys (and a few gals), but it does include Oscar Meyer, the couple who started Johnsonville Brats, and Bob Uker "for advertising meat via play-by-play radio announcing of major league baseball".

Still, no mention of goat meat. Perhaps, someday...

Vend-a-Goat

Goat Mascot for Store-brand Push Pops

Awesome to see someone at the brainstorming department at Food Club knows of the marketing power of goats. Yep. One of the main reasons I bought this pack was because of the crazy galoshes-wearing goat on the package. Doesn't hurt that push-pops are a great nostalgic summer treat. It was mainly the goat tho. Wonder if he has a name?

Another Goat-Beer Connection

The first time I had a tall can of Horny Goat Beer was at Octoberfest in LaCrosse. The beer is wheaty, spicy and, best of all, has a cheeky goat on the can. The creator, a Mr. Sorenson who really understands and appreciates the marketing power of goats, was recently featured in an article in the Wisconsin State Journal Local section (5/23/10).

A little research reveals that the brew used to be bottled at City Brewery in LaCrosse. The product that is now in stores is brewed by Point Brewery in Steven's Point. But the goat brew poured at the new tavern in Milwaukee, The Horny Goat Hideaway, is brewed on site. Sorenson runs "Tailgoats" - tailgate parties to promote Horny Goat, and even has free condoms that can be requested through the website.

Goat Unicorn

Lancelot, who's mother at least was an Angora goat, was "created" by Morning Glory and Otter G'Zell in the '80s. I remembered him touring with the Barnum and Baily Circus and that I thought his horn was pretty crude. But he seems like he would have been a nice guy.

Goat fighting?

http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/04/15/goat-fighting-in-china/

Continuing the Creepy Goat Month, I share the "sport" of Goat Fighting. I have reported on goat racing and its many incantations, but this is the first time I ever heard of goat fighting. The photos have appeared on several sites, and have been pinned to Indonesia and China. This site claims to have found them on an Chinese news site, along with an article.

Of course while researching this post, I came across the heartwarming story of the goat who led authorities to find a cockfighting ring.

Kissing Goat Statue

I could barely contain my joy at one of the newest acquisition by the Madison Chazen Museum. It is an anthropomorphic statue of two male goats making out.

Okay-so they have anthropomorphic wieners too (real goat penises might be more controversial as they are rather odd looking, with a little curlicue at the end. Male goats also pee on themselves during mating season and work the urine into their hair. To smell attractive. To the ladies. Or life partners I suppose.) Also, the title of the piece "A Rush of Blood to the Head" is apparently a Coldplay album. Hm. However the artist Beth Cavener Stichter has used goats as inspiration in the past, along with other compelling and disturbing animals (I think I saw a capybara and a mouse deer in her gallery.)

This statue has already attracted 31 comments on the Cap Times website listing the article I first read about the art piece including some "it's no big deal" and others stating "I can't take my kids here now."

The article in the Isthmus interestingly enough argues the fact that the statue shouldn't be alarming, but is.

Me? I haven't actually seen it yet in person, but I am happy for what buzz and discussion it has already generated.

Creepy goat blog post #1 done!

Creepiest Children Books!

I think with this little gem I am launching a month long Creepy Goat Challenge! Please send me creepy goat related myths, pop culture elements or whatever you can find. I know of some right off the top of my head I have been waiting for the right time to share... that time... is now~!

What do goats have to do with video games?

Behold the GOAT store:

http://www.goatstore.com/



It stands for Games Of All Types. By all types, they pretty much mean for old systems like Atari and NES, but still cool.

Goat Comercial Panacea!

Boy I've been out of the loop - look what I missed:

One Adult, One Goat

New Goat Commercial!!

Iron Goat Hiking Trail

An article in the paper this last Sunday didn't do anything to pull me in from the teetering edge of depression that effects those of us living in the snowy darkness of winter's end. It talked about the most deadly avalanche in US history, which happened in Washington state in 1910-two passenger trains were swept away, killing 90 some people.

The train path is now the Iron Goat Hiking Trail and has a mountain goat as its symbol.

LUCIFER!

I found a pic of Lucifer! The goat who use to live on the roof of the Mill House at The House on the Rock!

Argan Oil

In an effort to cover all things related to goat-pop-culture, I have to share this story on tree climbing goat poo oil. Yes. You read correct.





























Full article here:

http://www.forkfulofnews.com/?p=2300