Combined Goat Producer Focus Groups (Grand Anse)
Below are two focus groups combined and organized by topics. The topics are listed below. A topic can be copied and entered into the search tool for immediate access. For lists of participants, go to the individual focus groups listed in the previous menu.
1) Production
##Goats as part of a larger Livestock Strategy
##Household Labor and Who Cares for the Goats
2) Selling Goats
3) Uses of Goats
1. Production
##Goats as part of a larger Livestock Strategy
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): A lot of us had goats, but Hurricane Mathew killed them, the things goats gave us they’re not getting at the moment, because a lot of animals died after Mathew.
Islande: Mmm hmm, is there nobody else who wants to answer?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): But that’s a question, it’s a response for everybody.
Islande: Yes, but another question I’d like to ask is… If I have a goat, for example, I have a goat, and a cow, and a sheep, and a pig, and two or three chickens, why wouldn’t I say, a disase could come, I have a cow and I’ll put the rest of my money in goats. That way I know if people need goats in the area I can go to this gentleman’s house, or that lady’s house, I’ll find goats to buy, has that never occurred to you, for each of you to take your money and pool it to buy a portion of something? Has that ever happened?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): That hasn’t happened, because the way it works is everybody puts a portion of what they have in each thing.
Islande: In each thing?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): In each type.
Jackly: Why do you think each person puts a little portion into each thing?
Islande: In each type?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Why?
Islande: Yes, why do you do that?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): I can tell you, a little advantage in that is, you’re a farmer and you keep a pig. You have other things but the pig is what’s for eating. You have grass on your land that the pig won’t eat, so you keep another animal for the grass. If you have a mule you can carry things with it.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): That’s why we can’t do it. People might have two head of cattle, maybe two pigs. He sells them to buy a herd of goats, he just has goats. That’s all he does. You can’t do that here. You’ll lose too much money in a lot of other things.
Jackly: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Because when you have pumpkin squash on your, property what are you going to do with it? Are you going to find people to buy it? When you pick a bunch of taro, what are you going to do with all of the greens? Pumpkin won’t grow in their place. What are you going to do with it all? Do you need the pig?
Jackly: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): But you have to keep the pig someplace. You can’t walk it to the pasture when it’s full of grass. You need another animal to eat that grass.
Islande: (laughter)
Jackly: What you’re saying is important. A lady was saying…
Islande: Number 12.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Sometimes.
Jackly: Listen.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Sometimes you might have a cow. Not your own, one someone gave you to care for. There’s a time it reproduces, if the man’s wife has a baby it’s like she has a garden in the house every morning.
Jackly: The milk, yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You understand? He can drink it, or sell it, then buy something else with the money.
Jackly: Number 12.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): That means if you keep a goat you tie the it in part of the pasture. If you have 2, 3 goats that you’re going to let loose on somebody else’s land, a neighbor, when they get there the neighbor won’t help you release the goats in his garden, if you’re not putting a herd there. He won’t help you put them there, so you can’t be just a goat keeper.
Jackly: Ok, the answer number 3 gave is like one a lady gave, almost the same. Yours is really more dense. She says, for example, there’s a problem when you have a chicken to sell, you don’t have to sell a goat. She says when you have a problem you need to sell a cow to solve, a chicken or a goat won’t do the trick for you. OK, that’s the reason she gave, but your reason, and this is the first time we’ve heard it, there are things you need to do that you can’t do with a pig, you need a mule. There’s grass, too, that are for mules to eat. Thank you for that response. Does anybody have anything to add to it?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): It’s difficult for someone to keep all one thing. You always need a little bit of each thing.
Jackly: OK, let’s move on.
*****
Islande: Ok, I have a very important question: between your goats and your garden, what is most important? What would you prioritize if you had to choose?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Our garden brings in more benefits… Why? Because then you don’t need to buy food every day. Then you can use the money that you do have to purchase goats. You can’t kill a goat every time you need to eat. The meat doesn’t keep for long. But you can harvest your garden a little each day you need food.
In that sense, raising goats is a secondary livelhood to gardening. Goats help you bring in more money, but they don’t necessarily feed your family. You can use the money from selling goats to purchase supplies or labor for your garden. Or you can sell the harvest from your garden to buy goats. They support each other.
*****
Islande: What benefit do you get from raising goats that you don’t get from other animals, such as sheep, pigs or cows?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): You make money faster with goats, to pay for your children’s school. It’s much easier to sell a goat than a cow. And they are less work to keep than pigs. You can graze a goat just about anywhere, while you need to take care where you tie a cow or pig. Goats also produce litters more often, even if the litters are smaller…
##Types of Goats
Islande: OK, OK, let’s move on. What kind of goats were there in the area? Were there foreign goats, were there other breeds of goats that you know of in the area?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): There are improved long-ear goats and there are creole goats.
Islande: There are improved long-ear goats?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes.
Islande: Improved long-ear….
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): But they’re not easy to find. Just a few projects have brought them in.
Islande: But do you have them around here?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No.
Islande: I didn’t say which there are…
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We don’t have it.
Islande: In the area.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): They don’t sell well there. They sold them as soon as they were ready.
Islande: You don’t have them any more ? So, you have just one kind, the domestic breed, right?
Public (Lafem): Yes.
Islande: Yes, OK, and have you ever heard of a wild breed around here?
Participant: There’s no wild goats left.
Islande: Goats that have lived in the woods, ended up in the woods because they had no owner.
Public (Lafem): No, there aren’t any.
****
##Free Randing Goats
Islande: How do you raise the animals? Do you keep the goats tied on a cord, or do release them?
Public (Lafem): We keep them on a cord.
Islande: Everyone please remember to say your number when you speak. Number 12, you may speak.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): I keep them on a cord.
Islande: OK, number… what’s your number again?
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): Number 9.
Islande: Number 9.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): I keep goats on a cord.
Islande: You keep your goats on a cord, but are there people who release them in the high areas or in large pastures?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3. I keep goats in a place with a pasture that’s not too small.
Islande: Some I tie, others I release. The ones released follow the biggest ones so they don’t’ go far, because there are lots of dangers when you release goats on their own. I leave them in a pasture with their mother so they don’t go far.
Islande: Is that pasture yours, Number 3, or is it the government’s, or… ?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): My own pasture when I’m not working on state land.
Islande: OK, is there state land in the area where people go tie their goats, or release them ? It’s not close, it’s all the way over in Gran Bwa, the big forest, the state land.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Only the people close to it….
Islande: Tell me your number, 13.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Number 13, everybody who is near it, people who live in the woods (Gran Bwa), they use it, release their goats in it.
Islande: The woods, what locality is that in ?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You’re talking about Lopino, Balbari, Marouj.
Islande: OK Bwa Tanpe, Ennchi, Tozya, places without a lot of houses, that’s where, people below here work, there are managers there and they go release their goats in those woods? Tozya, Tozya is not in the Chalèt area?
Public (Lafem): Lè Zanglè.
Islande: Lè Zanglè is higher, you leave Chalèt and go up?
Public (Lafem): Chalèt is there.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Chalèt is here.
Islande: And the way you go you pass Nan Ranp ?
Islande: Ah, OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You go all the way.
Islande: OK, you all here don’t have goats up there, all the way up ? You don’t go and keep your goats far away like that ?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We keep our goats close so we can keep an eye on them from time to time.
Jackly: Just now you were saying that releasing goats was dangerous.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When you release goats in the woods you might think they’re there when they’re not. They might go into another pasture and get lost.
Jackly: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): People might take them, too. Or a goat you let go free it’s not good. Sometimes a mother might make babies with its father, the offspring breeds with the father, you understand? It’s not good for us. Brother and sister. We keep our goats contained with cords so we can control them.
Jackly: Ah, OK. Around here you don’t want a goat to impregnate its sister?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, no.
Jackly: .., but they say there are two breeds of goat you have [this is a joke, a play on the Kreyol expression that some people breed like goats, meaning they have mate with people who are family] …[laughter]
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): With relatives, with relatives.
Jackly: Around here you don’t want that?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, we don’t want it to be that way.
Jackly: It’s like that for everybody?
Islande: Is it for you or for everybody?
Jackly: Number 13.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): For everybody.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): But we do training for everybody.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): In not releasing them so they don’t get into people’s gardens.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, we tell them not to beat them for getting into gardens.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Yes, yes, to keep them from getting into people’s crops we keep them on a cord.
Islande: OK.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Sometimes when a goat is eating in the woods it can get its head caught in the brush.
Islande: Who else is going to say something. (Silence) Nobody else is going to say anything? I can start?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Well, number 1, number 1. It’s always the same thing, meaning sometimes it’s like they have said, it will go into somebody’s pasture, and the person can take it and leave it with the state, and then you have to spend money to get it back.
Islande: OK, number 7 you were saying something?
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): No, that gentleman covered what I was going to say.
****
Islande : You let them free range?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): If you have pasture, you can let them graze freely. Or you tie them on a parcel of land. We don’t keep goats inside.
Islande: I see.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Each morning and afternoon we rotate them to a new parcel of land. You have to check on them at least 2 times per day to make sure they have enough food and haven’t got caught on their the rope.
Islande: You continue that regimen until they are ready to be sold?
****
##Quantitites of Goats
Islande: Mmm hmm, OK, let me ask each of you how many goats you have grazing, not all animals, just goats. Let me start with number 4. How many goats in your pasture?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4, I have three goats grazing.
Islande: And you, number 7?
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): Well, I don’t have any. Mathew destroyed what I had.
Islande: OK, number 12.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, it left me with one, because I don’t have much.
Islande: OK, How many in your pasture, number 3?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Well, I’m not keeping any goats now. I just have one pig. I don’t keep goats.
Islande: Number, what number, what number?
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Number 6.
Islande: Mmm hmm, you have three goats you’re grazing.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): I don’t have any. Mathew killed them.
Islande: OK, and you?
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): I just have one.
Islande: Number 11, what’s your number, sir?
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): I just have one. It has two kids.
Islande: OK, number 1.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): I don’t have any. I have sheep.
Islande: OK, number 13.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Right now I have seven.
Islande: Seven, OK, and looking at the whole area, if we’re talking about someone who’s a major goatherder.
Jackly: How many goats might that person have?
Islande: How many goats would that person have?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): There are no major goatherders here any more. They have declined.
Islande: Yes, even if they’ve declined there are people who have more.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Let me tell you, schooling has gobbled them up, the storm has killed them. You’ll find people keeping two or three goats, four goats, or more.
Islande: And you?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): But the goat business has declined, totally.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Number 12, there are no goats, there are no goats.
Islande: Number 12, there are no goats?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, there were goats but the weather killed them.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Goats have declined.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4.
Islande:Who’s talking? Number 4.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): No, the bad weather has left people with hardly any goats. A single person lost 30 goats.
Islande: OK, is it easy to know how many goats a person in the area lost… how many did the person who lost the most lose in the storm?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): There are people who lost 16 goats…
Islande: Among the people we heard say they lost goats, the highest number, like people said they lost 10 goats, or 20 goats. There was one who talked about losing 30 goats, 30 is the highest, you understand?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Like the person who lost 30 goats, some were in the hands of someone who kept them for him.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, he lost a few.
Islande: Well, they were still his goats. And no one had more? The person with the most, how many goats might he have?
Public (Lafem): Yes, there were people who had more goats. You might not know. I can tell you a gentleman higher up lost 34 goats, goats and sheep.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Some you won’t know about because not everybody talks to you.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): That’s somebody else he’s talking about.
Islande: Well, what have you heard yourselves?
Public (Lafem): Me, that’s what I’ve heard.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Let me say something, raising livestock… number 13… livestock is something a person does here in herds, like they’ll have a herd of goats.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When they want to sell, they’ll come buy goats from me.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You won’t know his business. You might see he has two goats with him, yet he has one in the hands of every other person there, or two in the hands of each person who’s there.
Islande: When they die you’ll know how many he had.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): If he’ll tell you, he’ll tell you.
Islande: Yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): If he won’t tell you, you won’t know. That lady had two goats. The goats died, but if you don’t know they’re hers you won’t know she lost them.
Islande: OK, that’s what happened.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): That’s how it is around here, people don’t know other people, so they might not know whether a person has animals. You can’t say he has none, you can’t say if he has them. You can say you know the person but don’t know how many animals they have.
Islande: OK, with this group, we can say that a large percentage of you don’t have goats at the moment?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You see.
Islande: What keeps you, if you see goats as important livestock, what keeps you from raising goats?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): The thing that prevents us is that we lack the means to buy goats.
****
Islande: For those of you breeding, buying and selling goats, how many do you have in your pasture?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): It depends on the means of each goat breeder or herder. And the time of year. Sometimes we have to sell goats to pay for school fees. But at a minimum we have 6 goats at any time.
Islande: Ok. Right now how many goats do you have?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): At the moment I have 8 goats.
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Well, when I have money I use it for commerce – to buy and resell products. Now I have 4 goats in my pasture, but I might sell them to raise money for my other commerce because I have to repay a loan.
Islande: Who loaned you the money?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): I got a loan from FONKOZE.
(Short silence)
Islande: Does FONKOZE have a representative here?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes
Islande: What about you, number 7?
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): At the moment I have 3 goats. They are good breeding goats.
#12 (Daye, M, 48, 5, Farmer, 6th): I only have 2 goats, because I don’t have the means to purchase more.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): During the hurricane I lost 6 goats. Now I am only left with 1 goat.
Islande: What about you, how many goats did you lose in the hurricane?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): 16.
Islande: Number 4?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): I lost 9
Islande: And you number 7?
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): I lost 11.
Islande: Number 12?
#12 (Daye, M, 48, 5, Farmer, 6th): I lost 7.
##Feeding Goats
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Goats eat zegwi, kwatemala, bwa patat, kòlkòl [all wild shrubs]
Islande: You never gave your number, number 3.
#3 : It’s still me. It’s still my same voice. (laughter) Number 3, cane leaves, corn husks.
Islande: OK, let the rest of the people give us the rest.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Speak, sir.
Islande: Yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It’s not only me that’s in the werewolves’ society [this is a play on the earlier reference to werewolves/witches]
(laughter)
Islande: Let’s discuss what other food you give the animals.
Jackly: Numer 11.
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): You can use the goat, you can get it used to, give it the skins or husks of crops. You get it used to it…
Islande: Skins of cooked food, or raw?
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Skins of raw food.
Islande: Raw?
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Yes, you give it that, it gets used to eating it.
Islande: OK.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): It eats bean husks, and there are goats that drink water because that’s good for it.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Because its growing well.
Islande: There are goats that drink water. Or do all goats drink water?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): There are goats that drink water.
Islande: There are goats that don’t drink water?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): There are some that don’t drink water.
Islande: Well, all goats drink water, you just don’t give it to them. There are some you give water? There are some you don’t give water?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Because sometimes when you leave the water, when you put out the water, there are goats that drink it and goats that don’t want the water.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It depends on the food the goat is eating.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): Number 9, all goats drink water.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): When you tie a goat in the brush, it eats the food it finds.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): It eats and drinks water. It eats and at the same times consumes dew, that’s how it get’s water.
****
Islande: What do the goats around here eat? Or, what do you give the goats to eat in this area?
Islande: Mmm hmm, and food, is there any food you prepare for the goats to fatten them up? The way you fatten a pig, you can make a mixture of breadfruit, fruit and vegetable peels. I don’t know a lot of the mixtures, they put salt in and give it to the pigs. Is there a mixture like that people give to goats?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4, we haven’t yet tried giving mixtures like that to our goats.
Islande: And none of you have done that? Yes, no?
Public (Lafem): We don’t do that.
Islande: Exactly, what food, when you put the goats in it, have you noticed that they eat the most of?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Zegwi.
Islande: Zegwi?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Yes.
Islande: So, people were just telling me something, what zegwi are good for goats to eat ? All kinds of zegwi, unripe, or ripe?
Public (Lafem): Ripe.
Islande: Ripe ones?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Ripe ones are best for them.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Too ripe is not good. Too unripe isn’t good either.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): If I put goats in unripe zegwi it can give them…
Islande: Number 12.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Number 12.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): If I put the goat in unripe zegwi it gives it.
Islande: Mmm hmm, OK, there were others who were going to speak over there.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Yes, I said…
Islande: First your number.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Number 13.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): I said when a goat eats ripe food it’s better for it than unripe, that’s what I would add to what the ladies said.
Islande: Mmm hmm, and what food gives them, helps them develop fastest?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): For goats to grow best, you have to rotate them early in the morning when the dew’s still on the ground, and then let it eat well. It gets nice, ripe food, a good meal. It might have to move two or three times for that to happen. And if the food is nice and close the goat will develop well, fatten up nicely. It has to drink water, too, and it will develop normally.
Islande: OK, is like they say, if you give children tasty food they grow quickly? Is there a food like that you give the goats that makes them grow quickly?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): No.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): We tie them and feed them. We manage them.
Islande: Like when you need to fatten them up.
Jackly: Pigs, wheat bran.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the animal gets a nice mix, with potatoes in it, it has leaves in it, fronds, things you put in pig food, guinea grass, it will eat the long leaves, and it’s not just the goats, any animal will look better and get bigger faster.
*****
Islande: How do you raise the goat? Do you feed it fodder? Or put it out to pasture?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): If you don’t have enough fodder, then you have to let it graze on the pasture. Sometimes they fall sick, so you take them to the veterinarian for a shot or medicine. Then you need to give it good food so it can recover. We try to keep the goats 2-3 months to fatten them up before reselling them.
****
##Household Labor and Who Cares for the Goats
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4, in my house, everybody rotates the goats.
Islande: When you say everybody?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): My wife moves the goats, takes them to the pasture.
Islande: Hmm, the children rotate the goats, too. When you say children, little girls or boys.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Both girls and goys, meaning when an animal is in the pasture, if I’m busy or not there, the little girls sometimes goes to get the animal and bring it back.
Islande: OK, number 7.
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): Yes, in my household everybody rotates the goats, it could be a girl, or a boy, everybody is able to go to the pasture in the afternoon and get the goats, and bring them home to tie again in the yard.
Islande: OK, and you, ma’am?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Sometimes dogs eat goats, so you can’t let a goat sleep overnight in the woods. So if your husband is not there you have to go get the goat and put it in the house.
Islande: And in your case?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Me, if he’s not there I’ll rotate the goat, I’ll go there and move the goat.
Islande: Are there children in the house, too?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): I have children.
Islande: But you don’t send little children?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): No, sometimes you can’t send the children, so you have to do it.
Islande: OK, and for you, number 3?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3, me, I don’t have anybody in my household who doesn’t go tend to the animals, moving animals, mules, all of hte animals. All of the animals we have, everybody has to be able to rotate them. In our community, there’s no question, if you’re eating, that you won’t work, too. Everybody helps with the animals.
Islande: OK.
#3 : Simlply, maybe if it’s a girl I send two, or I send three because they’re girls. When it’s a boy I might send just one. He can go alone. (laughter)
Islande: OK, when it’s the girls you send several, when it’s a boy you send…
# 3 : I just send one. Just one. You understand? Because a girl can’t walk through just any forest by herself, it’s not safe. As the lady was saying just now, if the place you’re tying the goat is in your own pasture, there’s no problem, but if you’re leading it to somebody else’s house, the man will be leading you into his pasture to breed the goat, and some men are not honest people.
Islande: Ah, OK, and you ma’am, number…
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Number 6.
Islande: 6?
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): My father and I go.
Islande: You and your father? You, or your father, or both of you?
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Yes, either me or both of us.
Islande: OK.
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): When he’s not there.
Islande: You don’t have children yet?
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): No.
Islande: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): A baby [laughter]
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): When I’m not, when he’s not there I’m the one who rotates them.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You don’t see him sitting next to me? His heart is breaking. (laughter)
#6 (Lafem, Female, 27 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): When he’s there he’s the one who rotates them.
Islande: OK, and you, your number?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8, I rotate the goats when my husband is not there. When he’s there, he’s the one who does it.
Islande: You mean as long as you don’t do it. (laughter)
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): No, but I might take it in the yard when my husband is not around to go get the goat or go take it somewhere for breeding.
Islande; OK, but not to go breed the goat. (laughter)
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): No, I don’t want that.
Islande: (Laughter) And what’s your number? 11?
Public (Lafem): Number 13, 11 number 11.
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Number 11.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): Me, an adult, I rotate goats, I move them. I can change them, I have more experience than children. If I send a child to tie the goat someplace… the child doesn’t have the same experience I have. I can choose a good spot, but the child doesn’t have the experience to do that. I’m mature, I can choose and rotate the goat myself, because the child doesn’t have the same experience.
Islande: OK, and you don’t have a wife in the house who can rotate them too?
#11 (Lafem, Male, 34 years old, 0, Farmer, 6th): No.
Islande: OK.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): Number 9.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): Me, along with my little sister who’s in the house. When I’m not there she rotates the goats for me.
Jackly: OK.
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): And when I’m there I rotate them, but when I’m not there she’s the one who does it for me. Every afternoon we go get them and return them to the yard.
Islande: OK
Jackly: How old is your little sister?
#9 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 0, Farmer, 5th): She’s about 36.
Jackly: Ah, OK.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Number 1. Well, I’m the one who rotates our goats, on my own. And I have four children. Sometimes they don’t want to go, and I go, but they rotate them, too.
Islande: When you say four children, four sons?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): No, I have two girls, two boys.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): And they help me rotate the animals usually, They help me rotate them the most often, but sometimes if I’m not there the children might keep my wife from leaving.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Number 13, in my family there are six people, and four of them can do it. Among those four, I’m the one who usually does it. There are places you can’t send a child. Sometimes there’s rain, so you go tie them in the morning, you need to go get them in the afternoon. The sun is like that. There are places you tie them, you don’t want to send a child. They can do it but it’s not like my wife can’t. Because, you know, everybody has times when they can leave. When you are there, you can go and your wife has to stay home to take care of things. When I’m not there I come up with strategies, especially when I sometimes leave for two weeks for seminars, like I always buy some grassy spot nearby where I can put them, and rotate them nearby, near our yard. When I’m here I go wherever I want with them.
Islande: Who rotates them when you’re not there?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): When I’m gone? The children, and my wife.
Jackly: When you say children… girls, boys?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Yes, I have a little boy who rotates them, and I have another girl, plus my wife.
Jackly: OK.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): And then I have other friends I can send on errands.
Islande: But the girl rotates too?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Yes, she does.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The way women make people spend money, as soon as the money is made they hurry to ask for it.
Patisipan: Yes, all girls know how to rotate goats.
Islande: How long does it take for the goat to give birth?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Five months.
Islande: Number 3, five months.
Islande: Five months for it to give birth?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, you breed it and it gives birth in five months.
Islande: OK, how long does the goat nurse?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It might do it for three months, maybe more. There are goats that cut off the kids faster than others. There are goats that nurse two months and they’re in heat, they breed again. After three months they don’t want to nurse the baby any more, they give the little one a head butt.
Jackly: OK.
*****
Islande: Do you ever take your children to help you?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, sometimes we go to the market with our children to help bring the goats home.
Islande: Children? Do you take your daughters? Or sons?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Young sons.
Islande: You don’t take your young daughters at all?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): We take both of them.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): As long as they are out of school.
Islande: When there’s no school?
Audience: Yes
Islande: Do you take your own children, or children from the neighborhood?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): No, my own children
Islande: Do you take your sons? Or daughters?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): I take both
Islande: And you number 4? Do you take your children with you to the market?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Yes, my children. Both sons and daughters.
Islande: And you, number 7?
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): Yes, I take my own children…sometimes the neighbor’s children.
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Sometimes I go with my husband.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes, we all do it the same way.
Islande: Number 12, you haven’t said much…
#12 (Daye, M, 48, 5, Farmer, 6th): I just spoke up a little bit ago. I want to let other people have the chance to talk. Yes, I take my children with me as well.
****
##Bad Weather
Islande: Hmm, what do you do with the goats when it rains?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): When it rains we put the goats near the house. We make tents under banana trees for shelter.
Jackly: You don’t beat them.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Don’t hit them, and then we make a little house and put them in it.
Islande: Mmm hmm, nobody else wants to respond?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Same thing. We always have build something to put the goats in when it rains. We put them under the shelter, with a little earth under it where it can graze a little. If there’s no dogs around that are going to eat them we leave them there. You might find a rock overhang for shelte, put it there. If you put all the goats under something like that, only the ones you tie will stay there.
Islande: In your case, if you buy a lot of goats what do you do with them when there’s a storm?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): If I buy lots of goats what do I do with them in a storm?
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Well, what I do, if I have had time to move them, I sell them.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Now, I do the same thing with them, I tie them in the yard, and then I put them under a nice clean banana tree, I put up a little house so the weather won’t completely destroy them.
*****
Islande: How do your raise the goats? What happens when it rains?
Audience: Where do we put them?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): In the open air.
*****
##Illnesses
Islande: OK, now what to ask, is when you buy a goat in the market, the goat you buy, do you need, how should I put it… let me ask another way. The goats act in a way that lets the buyer see whether it’s sick. Do you know what they do that lets you know whether it’s sick or healthy?
Jackly: Meaning, if you come across a goat in the market…
Islande: Mmm hmm.
Jackly: And the goat is sick, will you be able to tell?
Islande: Will you recognize it?
Jackly: What can you touch or see in the goat to tell you?
Islande: To see whether it’s sick.
Jackly: That it’s a sick goat so you shouldn’t buy it?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Number 1, sometimes you come across a goat and you stand and look it over, you choose the goat, and then you see that it will only lie down. When it’s walking it lies down, and you might notice it has bad diarrhea.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): You will see that it has diarrhea, and it’s not just that. You can see that it’s a sick goat. And you might notice marks, on its feet, maybe it got caught in a cord, or something hit it, and you will be able to see the damage to the goat.
Islande: How do you tell if it has been hit?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): No, it might…
Islande: Number 1.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): It has, number 1, it has four feet, you might notice that one, you look for what’s right and what’s not. You might notice on one foot that a cord cut it, so it has a scar on the foot.
Islande: What do you do with the goat, breed it?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): No, you have to find a way to do that…
Jackly: Breed it while you are raising it?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Whatever is the best thing for you to do with it.
Islande: You feel it, inspect it with your hands?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): No, you don’t feel it, you go over it to figure out how it can benefit you, see if it’s sick, you look to see if it has a cut from where it was tied with a cord, or hit with a rock, or anything that might have hurt or sickened it.
Islande: OK.
Jackly: Where do you…
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Sometimes you get to the market to buy a goat and you see a goat you are considering buying has scratches on it.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Little scratches on its ears, or the side, or little cuts, and you get it in your head that’s the reason the owner decided to sell it, but you can still buy it.
Islande: OK, who else wants to speak, nobody else?
Jackly: They also say you can squeeze the midsection to see if there are any secretions.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, you can look to see if the goat has been beat up in any way. If all of its ribs are showing that’s not a goat you want to buy in the market. That’s a ruined goat.
*****
Jackly: Ahh, is there a veterinarian in the area?
Audience: Yes
Islande: How many veterinarians are there?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): There are 2. One is completing his/her training.
Islande: Do you take your livestock to their house when they are sick?
Audience: Yes
Islande: So they can get vaccines?
Audience: Yes
*****
##Breeding
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3, you get an advantage maybe in a goat that has already had babies, sometimes you can buy one that is healthy. Sometimes you can buy one that has already been bred in the market [it was opportunistically bred while tethered or corralled and waiting to be sold], or you might have it two or three weeks and you breed it quickly. But the offspring, you have to raise it, so the profit comes later, so it all depends on how much money you have already.
Islande: So if you buy a grown one there’s no profit to be made if it’s infertile.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, you have to choose one that is not infertile, an infertile one you can spot.
Islande: What form does it have, I need to know, number 13 was telling me about that.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): So, a goat that is not able to have babies, you will see that it is closed up behind, it has become very small, and the goat has gotten meatier. It looks like a goat that has gotten fat, so you don’t look for a goat like that.
Islande: Number 13
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Number 13, even if it is hungry a goat like that will never get skinny.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, it will stay full because it has fat.
Islande: But let me ask, how will I know it has not simply been fattened up, and that the fat on it is because it is infertile?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Well, if they’re fattening it up to sell it’s not a goat to keep for breeding any more.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Number 1.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It’s…
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): You can also see in its udders, because they’ll never be the same as those of a goat that’s still capable of kidding. Its udders will become dry, they’ll have no milk at all any more.
Islande: Ok, that interests me, in the case of a goat that is young but naturally can’t have babies, how are you going to see that?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): By its age.
Islande: That’s number 3, by its age, number 3. I’m going to have to cut you off number 3 because I see you’re speaking and the other people aren’t (laughter).
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): According to its age.
Islande: So, number 3, you’ll look at the size it has reached without having babies.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): If it hasn’t started, it won’t be having any babies at all.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4, it might have been bred. In about 10 percent of cases it wont’t get pregnant. It found another goat bigger than itself, it bred, but it’s not pregnant. That means that it tightly closed up, it can’t get pregnant, that means its mature but it won’t produce.
Islande: But will you, if you go to the market will you be able to determine, even if the goat is young, that it won’t be able to have babies, it won’t yield a profit, so you shouldn’t buy it?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Yes, you’ll be able to see that because it hasn’t been with another goat.
Islande: Will I be able to see that in the market?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): You’ll be able to spot that goat.
Islande: How will you do that?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Sometimes a goat like that will show up in the market and you’ll be able to tell by experience. You’ll say that goat, that goat…
Islande: Mmm hmm, but I’ll need experience.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): According to its size, its size will confirm that the goat will not have offspring. You’ll see there’s no advantage in it, you won’t buy it. I’ll say, I’m not buying that goat to raise.
Islande: OK, I would like to go to the market because I want to see a goat to be able to say that goat’s not…
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Yes, you can, you will be able to, you’ll see it.
Islande: OK, good, you haven’t told me what experience I’ll need to see it.
Public (Lafem): No, we mean somebody who knows it, number 13, it’s in the training, it’s in training you’ve had with goats that you’ll be able to spot it.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): You need somebody who knows to show you, to tell you that a particular goat won’t be able to have babies.
Islande: So, that’s what I need you to tell me. On my own, I won’t be able to tell, I need you to tell me what to look for. How will I be able to see that this little, young goat will never be able to breed, so I shouldn’t buy it in the market.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Some people talk about their little udders. Goats have two, its little udders grow side by side. I’ve noticed it’s not exact, there are some goats that breed rapidly, they have kids following them, they get scared but continue to produce… they raise all their young but some people say because they’re nursing they’ll fail you. But I’ve seen that’s not really the way it is.
Islande: No, because others say when they have little udders they’ll have babies.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, small udders do not prevent goats from producing offspring, and they don’t keep them from having good offspring.
****
Islande: How do you make a goat attract a mate? How do you do that?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Make it attract a mate?
Islande: How do you make a goat attract a mate, because they’re tied up, right?
Public (Lafem): Yes.
Islande: Number 8.
#8 : Number 8, when a goat calls out, because I had a goat that was crying out, it was crying and I asked myself what was the matter with it, and I put a male goat with it and she led it to a place to mate (laughter), and then it raised its tail, too. It raised its tail and cried out, you could tell it was calling a mate.
Islande: Why didn’t you go off with the goat (laughter), because you brought in a male?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): No, no, I’m not going!.
Islande: Why? But why? [More laughter]
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): No, I’m not going, truly, that’s a man’s job, not a woman’s.
Islande: Ah, there’s a place for men in raising livestock, and a place for women?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): No, I keep goats, but might not be able to go…
Islande: Ah, OK.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, that means that if my husband is not around and the goats need to be led to another place I can’t do it.
****
##Branding and Recognition
Islande: Hmm, OK. (silence) And what do you do to recognize which goat is yours?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8, you distinguish according to the goat’s markings.
Islande: The goat’s markings?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Yes, we tie them in our own pastures, we don’t go tie them in somebody else’s land. We manage the goat.
Islande: When you’re moving your goats, do you ever run into a neighbor who’s moving their goats, and you’re walking together and the goats get their feet tangled up?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8, when our goat passes behind theirs, we yell to them and grab ours.
Islande: OK.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): It’s number 13.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): I follow behind, and I look for a separate area to put mine.
Islande: Hum hum
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): And then I have someone who comes with me.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): I lead my team, he leads his. For example, the other guy might go ahead of me, and then when mine get to the crossroads, his will go their way and mine will go theirs. Everybody takes their own way home.
Islande: OK but if you just bought a goat do you think it would go the right way?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): No, not yet. It won’t yet know the way, it will follow the leader, the ones that were already there.
Islande: Ah, ah.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Yes.
Islande: OK, but do you ever lose a goat?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Not often. It happens, but not often. One might break its cord, or get stolen.
Islande: Do you do anything to prevent that ? To be able to recognize your goats if they get stolen?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4. Some goats, they might have a cord around its head, and you know what cord you put on it. And then some goats look alike, so you have to know the markings, even if it looks like another you have to be able to tell them apart. There are goats with a star on them, if they’re black they have a white mark, and the white ones might have a black star. That means you have something to determine which one is yours.
Islande: OK, but you don’t brand them, put a brand on them?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8, they brand cattle, but not goats or pigs, sheep, we don’t brand those animals yet.
Islande: Hmm, somebody told me just now that to brand a goat they cut a little piece of its ear, do you do that?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3, a lot of goats have a cut ear, but they don’t have a brand they could use in court. A person might catch a thief with the goat, and the thief can say he cut the goat’s ear. He can say he’s the one who cut the goat’s ear, because it was sick.
Islande: But you can make a round cut, another can make a square cut, and another a rectangle. But you say it’s not something that’s exact.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): It’s not a type of identification that’s exact.
Islande: In that case…
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The goat, goats know their owners well. Me, I had a goat in a field and a thief took it, the thief took it away and confined it, put it in a building with a child watching over it. He gave the child money, and said he went and bought it for him. The goat broke its cord and escaped. I was investigating what happened and somebody in the market told me all that. I went to check it out, I went after the goat. When I got there, I called out for the owner of the house, and the goat answered me. As soon as the goat heard my voice, it started chewing its cord so it could come join me. There was a woman in the kitchen, she said, “Look how that goat responds to a person! That must be its master.” She ran and asked me what was the matter. I said I lost a goat, they said there was a thief they caught here and I came to see if it’s the one. She led the way, and as soon as I arrived the goat jumped on me. The animal knew its master. Once it’s accustomed to its owner, to following him, it looks for him, if it arrives in a place it can pick out its owner.
Jackly: OK, is there anybody else who would like to say something?
Public (Lafem): I already said something.
Jackly: Has everybody said something? […..] OK. Around here do you brand goats or mark them? Did they already ask that question?
Public (Lafem): It’s as we were saying, we don’t have a way to brand goats exactly because that would require a number.
Jackly: OK, is there a place where they cut the goat’s ear?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Cutting the ears is not a hard and fast means of identification, again, because a thief can just say he’s the one who cut the goat’s ear. You can’t lay claim to a goat based on a cut in its ear.
****
Islande: OK, when you buy the goat in the market how do you avoid mix-ups? How do you recognize your goat?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): My own goat?
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): How I recognize it.
Islande: The goat you bought in the market.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Ah, sometimes we take a little paper, or tie a little cord around its neck.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): I mean, to identify it as yours. When you don’t do that and then right there you exchange it or sell it to a friend, you might not have time to put a mark on it.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): But the ones you keep, when they’re in the market you have to have a way to identify it as yours.
Islande: What else do I need to know?
****
Islande: OK, what I need to know is when you are done, is there a little structure in the market where you can put every goat you buy in the market, or do you tie them? What do you do?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): No, you don’t have a little house…
Islande: Because each goat you buy you put it in it, or do you tie them? What do you do?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): No, you don’t have a little house.
Islande: Each goat, when you’ve bought it, do you take it with you when you go to buy another?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): You buy the goat in the market or if you’re selling in the market you can tie it in the back of the market, but if you are going to be going around in the market you take it with you, all of them, and then you make a little pen and tie all of the goats inside it.
*****
Islande: How you do distinguish between the goats when they are all together?
Audience: We remember. And it’s written on their title.
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Yes, the title has a description of the goat’s coloring.
Islande: Ahh, I see…but is there any confusion in identifying the goats?
Audience: No, we know what to look for, how to tell them apart.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): We try to organize the goats after buying them so they don’t get mixed up with other herders’ goats.
Islande: But if 3 of you go to the market and each buy 4 or 5 goats, then you have some 15 goats [to keep track of]?
Audience: Yes
Islande: So even if you tie them in the same place, they aren’t mixed together?
Audience: No, they don’t mix.
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): They are different too. Not all are the same size or price.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Or color.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): After you purchase them, you tie them together with a rope. Each of us has our own way of tieing the rope, so that helps us recognize our goats.
****
2. Selling Goats
##Reasons for Selling Goats
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): We keep goats as a sort of bank account. You might need money to pay for your children’s school, or some other thing, and you can sell a goat to pay tuition. But you can’t sell them all, you have to keep enough to breed more so you’ll always have one when you need it.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Number 4, goats and school are intertwined. If you have a goat that’s ready to sell, or even if it’s not ready, you can take it and pay for school.
Islande: So, your goats are for paying for school?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes. But you also use them in agriculture.
Islande: You use goats in agriculture?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We use goats for agriculture, you see, because it’s a goat you sell so you can buy rum [to give to laborers], to pay day laborers [to prepare the soil], and when you need to harvest your crops.
Islande: OK.
#3 : If God grants you a good harvest you can get two more goats.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Number 1.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): So every family can get enough food to eat.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): And you might have someone in your household who’s sick and needs a doctor, so you need money for their care. You sell a goat and you have money to care for them.
Islande: You were saying something, Jackly? Jackly you were saying something?
Jackly: Hmm, me? No.
Islande: OK, does anyone have anything to add? OK, if I’m understanding, goats are a foundation of the local economy.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, important.
Islande: If I’m hearing everyone… you were saying something, number 3?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, we’re saying goats are very important, because it’s not easy for a poor person to keep goats.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Because he has to keep them through every misstep, everywhere.
****
Islande: Do goat breeders buy goats?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Breeders? Yes, sometimes we need to replenish our herd. And bring in new stock to breed. Goats are one of the most valuable resources to rural residents. We count on them to send our children to school and conduct other business.
*****
##Choosing the Right Goat
Jackly: OK, so for example if you go to a market to buy a goat, what do you look for that will let you say you’ve found a goat that’s good as livestock, meaning it’s a goat you can raise… what qualities should it have? Or what do you look for in a goat as an animal you can buy and keep as livestock?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3, you should choose a good goat based on looking at its four hooves.
Jackly: OK, its four hooves.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You can look at the goat’s form, its eyes, horns, teeth, there are plenty of things to look at when you’re choosing a goat to raise.
Jackly: OK, so you can say it’s a good breed, or a goat you can raise, or… ?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You can say it’s a goat you can raise but it’s only when it starts breeding that you’ll know whether it’s good, a truly good breed.
Jackly: Ah, OK, because…
Islande: Is there any other remark, like when you look at the udders?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You check them out to see whether they are good. But when you talk about breastfeeding, I put it to the test with two goats. And even if it has two small udders and two large ones, it might have three babies and raise all three.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It bears twins and it raises both, with no problem. It’s pigs that are more likely to have issues.
Islande: OK, does anybody have anything more to say?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Well, number 1, as our friend just said, we have goats that have 3, 4 udders.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): And imagine, you are convinced the goat can be a good breed, and then you are going to keep it. In the future the way it is, it’s behavior, its physical attributes, that is when you can really tell, you see that it really is a good breed of goat.
Islande: And if you are going to buy a goat in the market, what kind of goat do you buy to raise?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Well, if you are looking to buy a goat in the market, they can have several traits, but usually you’ll be looking to buy a female, and like with a cow it might already have birthed, and maybe for example you can find some friends who can help you confirm it’s a good goat and you buy it, and then you raise it, and that is when you can really confirm that you can breed it, you can keep it and it can give you a good breed of goats.
Islande: Let me ask the question again another way. What observation can you make about a goat to say whether it will be good for breeding if you are buying one in the market?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8, if the goat is healthy, you can tell if it is healthy, and there are ways to look at it to make sure it’s not too old. Then you can go ahead and buy the goat.
Islande: OK, does anyone else have anything to say?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Well, number 13, although our friend has already given a lot of information about his ways because, he’s behind you…
Islande: Mmm hmm…
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): And the other who was here also provided much information about how you can choose a good goat.
Islande: OK, now, if I’m buying a goat to resell, what kind of goat should I buy to resell ?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Well, the goat you’ll buy to resell first of all you have to identify the goat. If you are going into the middle of the market with it, is it sick ? And if it’s sick it might not be able to walk that far, maybe you’ll buy it in the market and then get it when you go. The goat in the market has to be in good shape, and not sick. And then, you’re looking for a goat you can make a profit on. If you buy it for 1000 gourdes you figure you can make 200 gourdes on it, or 250 gourdes, or even 300. That means you need to find a goat you can get something out of, that’s the one you buy.
Islande: In that case, if you’re buying a goat in the market to breed, do you get a little one, or a big one, or a young one?
Public (Lafem): No, we take a young one, it depends on how much money you have with you.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3, it depends on how much money you have on you. You might find a goat you like in the market but you can’t take it to sell because it’s not going to be profitable for you to sell a goat like that, so you have to buy a small one, you choose a small one that looks like it will grow into a good goat.
Islande: OK, but the advantage, what’s the advantage? I don’t know what the benefit is. Buy a tiny one, I mean buy one that’s still following its mother. Do you buy a small one that has not kidded yet, or one that’s already had babies? Which is more advantageous for someong looking to buy a goat?
*****
Islande: Now, the first thing I would like to ask you is, what type of goats do you purchase? What do you look for in a goat that you are to breed? What qualities are most important?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): We purchase the best we can find.
Islande: What type of goat? Small? Young? Large?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Yes, we buy young female goats that have potential.
Islande: What about you, sir?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): When we go to the market, we examine the goats for sale. We look at their teets to project how they will develop and benefit us. We don’t just buy any goat. We look for goat breeds that can bare multiple offspring, such as “ras 3”…
Islande: How do you know if it is a ras 3 goat? You said you examine the teets, what do you look for?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Well, we examine the mother: how many teets she has, how large they are…if you purchase a goat that only has 3 teets, then it its unlikely to ever have 3 children. She will have 1 or 2, but she doesn’t have enough teets to feed 3 kids. Sometimes it takes time. The mother will have a single kid during her first birth, 2 during her second birth and 3 during her third birth. But it also depends on the breed of goat.
#12 (Daye, M, 48, 5, Farmer, 6th): Whenever I purchase a goat, I try to find one that is good looking. I look at its coat. If the coat is curly, smooth and reddish, then you know that it is a quality goat. The size of the waist is important too. You want a goat with a large waist so the quarters can develop a lot of meat.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes, the appearance of the goat is important. Beautiful goats sell fast at the market. You don’t want to buy any runt, or else you risk losing your money. For example, if you purchase a goat for 400 dola (2,000 HTG) or 500 dola (2,500 HTG), you have to sell it for 600-700 dola (3,000 – 3,500 HTG) in order to make a profit on your investment.
Islande: Ok. What about you, number 7? You haven’t spoken yet.
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): I once purchased a goat at the market that only had 2 teets. A female goat. When the time came for it to reproduce it’s stomach swelled. It bore 3 kids, even though it only had 2 teets. So I don’t think it’s the number of teets as much as the breed that determines children…
Islande: So the breed is more important than the number of teets?
(Several people respond simultaneously)
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): When it comes to bearing young.
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): When you select a goat to breed, you look for a goat that is standing up. You don’t want a goat is laying down [at the market].
Islande: Why?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Because that goat will be difficult to sell.
Islande: Difficult to sell?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Yes, it’s not a good sign if the goat is laying down on the ground. A goat that is standing will grow big and gain value.
Islande: Does that mean that it is sick?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes
Islande: Does it ever happen that you buy a goat, but it dies before you can resell it?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Sure.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It happens from time to time, but not often.
Islande: What causes the goat to die [prematurely]?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Many things. It could die during the journey home from the market.
*****
Islande: Ok, I want to ask you another question that you should all be able to respond to. If you buy 10 goats, how many do you resell? And how many do you keep to breed?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): You wouldn’t just buy any 10 goats. You look for the ones that have promise, that will put on weight. You don’t want a puny goat that has no future…
*****
##The Market
Islande: OK, what market do you go to around here, to buy or sell goats? Where do you buy goats to resell?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): We buy in Previle, we sell in Lyon. We sell in Previle and we buy elsewhere. We sell in Previle… we buy in Milfo and we sell in Previle.
Public (Lafem): You can buy in Previle and then turn there toward Antou.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You can buy it in the market…
Islande: But you never return from Milfo with goats? You don’t go to buy and sell goats?
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, and transport is 500 to go up. We never need 210 more to go. *
Islande: When you go to sell goats in Milfò, where do you buy those goats?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We buy anywhere. We can even buy them right there in Milfò.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): You can even buy in Milfò, too.
Islande: Where do goats sell at the highest prices?
Jackly: And cheapest.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Mafran.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): You can say Mafran, Lyon.
Islande: Where do they sell cheapest?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Sometimes we…
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The little market on the mountain.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Little markets up on the mountain, and also Previle, Milfò.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Dayè, Previle, Milfò.
Islande: Mmm hmm, in those markets they’re cheapest.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Kastiyon, that’s farther away.
Islande: You go buy in Kastiyon, too?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 45 years old, 4, Farmer, 6th): Me, I don’t go there.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): There are guys who don’t go.
Public (Lafem): But some do.
Islande: Some do go?
Public (Lafem): Yes.
Islande: The way we get to Kastiyon, we pass through the mountain up high.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We go through Bwa Goch.
Islande: And then we climb the mountain.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We cross like that. We don’t go all the way to Bwa Goch, we reach Seyèt.
Islande: Yes, yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Once you pass the Catholic church, Seyèt is where it is.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You cross the water, there’s water on the ground, you cross and go up where the water rises and then you climb the mountain and go all the way to Kastiyon.
Islande: You walk a long way. For an animal to leave Kastiyon to get here it walks a long way!
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, but….
Islande: How do you carry, what do you do to get the animals here?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): If you buy, say, 10 goats, you lead them back, or drive them ahead of you….
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): You buy solid goats.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): So they can walk fast.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, you don’t buy goats that are asleep on their feet. You buy solid goats that can walk.
Islande: Hmm.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): And then you lead, you lead two goats with a cord and the rest will follow them.
Islande: Do you take children with you to help lead the goats?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Yes, sometimes you bring children or friends with you.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You can’t find children when the market is on a school day.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Sometimes you have a friend who’s doing the same thing, and you go together, as a team.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You might have 20 goats together, 15 goats between you.
Islande: All together?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Two men together, one leads in front and the other drives them from behind.
Islande: Hmm, OK, that way when you go to another market you lead them. You never put them on another animal to transport them?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): No.
Islande: Around here, do you buy goats, do you sell goats?
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes.
Islande: But you haven’t spoken at all about markets around here?
Public (Lafem): This little market, the market here, its the Previle market where we sell goats.
Islande: Ah, OK.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): This is La Ferme.
*****
Islande: As goat herders and breeders, where do you buy and resell goats?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): We buy them in Milfò and sell them in Mafran. Sometimes we sell them here in Dayè too, or in Aleyon.
Islande: Where do you buy them?
Audience: Milfò
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Sometimes we buy goats here in Dayè, but mostly we buy them in Milfò at the Monday market. We resell them at the Wednesday and Friday markets in Mafran. What we don’t sell, we bring back to Dayè to wait until the next market day. You don’t sell a lot of goats in Dayè because almost everyone raises their own goats.
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): We also go to Leyon, Previle or Letre to buy and sell goats. Once they start to put on girth, you can sell them.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It depends on where the price is best. Sometimes we’ll check the price at several markets before purchasing a goat, including Milfo and Mafran. That way we maximize our capital. If the merchants don’t have money, we’ll sell them a goat on credit. We collect the money after they have butchered the goat and sold all of the meat at the Wednesday market.
****
Islande: How many goats can you purchase in day?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): 10, 15 goats.
Islande: And how many do you take to the market at a time?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Sometimes as many as 10, 15.
Islande : What’s the least amount of goats you take?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It depends on the chord. You tie them so they stay together.
Islande : How many?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It depends. Some people have more than others. Sometimes there’s not much to buy in the market, so you buy as many you can find: 1, 2 or 5 goats.
****
Islande: How do you transport the goats [to/from market]? Do other people help you?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): We do it as a group. You need multiple people to herd the goats across the river.
Islande: Do you encounter any problems when you buy or resell goats?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes
Islande: Among herders, I mean. Do you ever have disagreements?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Sure, there can be problems. Sometimes we lose money reselling goats because there is not a strong market for goats or meat.
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): Competition between herders can be a problem as well. Sometimes herders buy goats on the road before they can reach the market [speaker uses the term ‘dezod’ to describe this practice, indicating or at least suggesting that it is illegal]. Or they will steal goats from your herd and sell them under false papers. But if you are caught, then you are banished.
Islande: Banished?
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): They run away. Or they might lose their goats and have to pay for them again.
Islande: OK, I have a follow up question. Does it ever happen that two herders try to buy the same goat? Does that ever create conflict?
Audience: Yes, we have that problem sometimes…
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): For example, I might offer 400 dola (2,000 HTG) for a goat, but another herder comes along and buys it for 500 dola (2,500 HTG). We would have something to argue about.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, that wouldn’t necessarily lead to a fight. The person who offers more money has the right to buy the goat.
Audience: (Agreement)
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): If a herder sees an opportunity to make profit on a goat, then they will buy it. The goat may not bring in a profit at that purchase price, but It’s their risk to take.
****
Islande: How do you manage buying multiple goats on market day?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): There is a place, like a depot, where they assemble goats to sell.
Islande: When you say a depot, are you talking about a building?
Audience: No it’s not a building…
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): You see, the market is divided into different sections. There is a section for animals. After buying goats, you look for a place to tie them until they are ready to be transported.
Islande: Like a post?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, after you buy a number of goats, you tie them to a post.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): All of us goat breeders are like brothers, colleagues, so we look out for each other. If someone’s goat wonders off, then you call them or corral it yourself.
Islande: Ok. Does everyone have a place at the market?
Audience: No
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): You look for a free space to tie your goat. Often we tie them together with other herders.
*****
Islande: What about to the markets that are further away?
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): If it’s too far, then just my husband and I go.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): In that case, us goat breeders look out for each other. Like I said earlier, we are like family. For example, I’ll buy 10 goats, my colleague buy 10 goats; and we take turns looking after each others purchases. Then we return with them together.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): The goats all follow each other on the road home. We keep track of who each goat belongs to.
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): We all know which goats are ours. When we return to [Daye], we divide them to take to our homes.
##Legal Papers
Islande: Do you ever have any trouble purchasing goats? For example, does the government ever confront you for not having the right papers?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Naturally. You need to have papers for all the goats you purchase: if you purchase 1 goat or 10 goats. When you reach Mafran they will demand to see the authorization for all of your goats. You have to provide them with the correct documentation.
Islande: What if you lose [a goat]?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It happens. You can’t stake and tie all of your goats. So you tie some and let the others graze freely nearby. But sometimes those goats wonder and you lose them in the woods.
****
Islande: How much does it cost to register a goat and get papers/title (“lesse passe”)?
8: 50 HTG per title
Islande: Is it the same price for all goats?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): At least for goats it’s the same price
Islande: Who pays for the title during a sale? The buyer or the seller?
Unidentified: The person selling the goat
Islande: And they factor that into the sale price of the goat?
Audience: Yes
****
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Number 3, I don’t need anything else as long as I have a paper for each goat.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The paper identifies my goat as mine, and identifying marks are listed on the paper.
##Prices
Islande: When is goat meat most expensive in the market? In what season is goat most expensive in the market?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): In December.
Islande: In December?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We’ve arrived at a time, business is slow, animals are cheaper, animals are cheap again.
Islande: Yes, there’s a time when it’s more expensive, that always happens.
Public (Lafem): There’s a time, in May, July.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the harvest is ready.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The price…
Islande: Goes up a little?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): There are children who have just made a little harvest, they need an animal to raise.
Islande: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the harvest is ready, I’m saying.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Yes when the harvest is ready.
Islande: OK, that’s when things are lowest?
Public (Lafem): Around March.
Islande: When it’s….
Public (Lafem): Around March.
Islande: In March?
Public (Lafem): When March comes, when…
Islande: In the calm period?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the beans have been planted, around then you can see the beans flowering, that’s when animal prices go down a little.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Number 13.
Islande: That’s when people who raise animals might go buy more.
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes, that’s the time.
Islande: But since everyone’s going lower?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Especially when school opens, the parents are burdened. Because they know the children must go to school, so you go to the market and take whatever little money you can get. The children have to go to school, so you get by with whatever you have.
****
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): You asked a question a bit ago, you asked how much it costs to buy a goat around here, but those goats are expensive. I puny little goat coasts 900 dollars (4500 gourdes), for a tiny goat. But that doesn’t mean goats are a big deal.
Islande: Yes. Nobody wants to say anything else?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Well, I’d simply like to thank you.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): For this nice meeting.
Jackly: Mmm hmm. You may speak.
*****
Islande: When is the best time to buy goats on the market? When is the price lowest?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): At the start of the school year in September is best. Or during the exam period in June. Lots of people are selling goats to raise money for [school fees]. You can buy goats the rest of the year, but they are expensive.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Right now goats are very very expensive.
Islande: Why is that?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): There are many people looking to buy goats, so it drives the price up.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Those people sold cows in December. Now they need goats. In December they were expensive, so they waited until now to buy goats. But the price has increased even more…
Audience: OK
(Moment of silence)
Islande: Let me ask you a personal question, why did you choose to be goat breeders?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, what made us choose to become goat breeders is because . Everyone engages in some type of commerce. They make 50 HTG to pay for school for their child. We buy and resell goats to help our family in the same way.
Islande: Does anyone want to add something?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Raising and selling goats is our profession. You can make profit if you do it well, make 500 dola (2,500 HTG) in profit. You use that money to send your child to school, buy them shoes, or to replinish your herd.
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): You see, after you buy a goat and papers for 400 dola (2,000 HTG). You can sell it for a profit of 50 or 80 dola (250 or 450 HTG).
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It won’t make you a fortune, but it provides a liviing. You can turn around and sell a goat that you buy for 400 dola (2,000 HTG) for 420, 430 dola (2,100, 2150 HTG) to someone in the community. But if you take it to the market you can sell it for more. A goat can sell for 500 dola (2,500 HTG) at the market in Milfò. 530 dola (2,650 HTG) if it is good specimen.
Islande : 530 dola?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes, because the goat has the potential to grow big and bare children.
*****
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): For example, I might offer 400 dola (2,000 HTG) for a goat, but another herder comes along and buys it for 500 dola (2,500 HTG). We would have something to argue about.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, that wouldn’t necessarily lead to a fight. The person who offers more money has the right to buy the goat.
3. Uses of Goats
##Milking
Islande: When is goat meat most expensive in the market? In what season is goat most expensive in the market?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): In December.
Islande: In December?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): We’ve arrived at a time, business is slow, animals are cheaper, animals are cheap again.
Islande: Yes, there’s a time when it’s more expensive, that always happens.
Public (Lafem): There’s a time, in May, July.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the harvest is ready.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The price…
Islande: Goes up a little?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): There are children who have just made a little harvest, they need an animal to raise.
Islande: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the harvest is ready, I’m saying.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Yes when the harvest is ready.
Islande: OK, that’s when things are lowest?
Public (Lafem): Around March.
Islande: When it’s….
Public (Lafem): Around March.
Islande: In March?
Public (Lafem): When March comes, when…
Islande: In the calm period?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When the beans have been planted, around then you can see the beans flowering, that’s when animal prices go down a little.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Number 13.
Islande: That’s when people who raise animals might go buy more.
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes, that’s the time.
Islande: But since everyone’s going lower?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Especially when school opens, the parents are burdened. Because they know the children must go to school, so you go to the market and take whatever little money you can get. The children have to go to school, so you get by with whatever you have.
****
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): You asked a question a bit ago, you asked how much it costs to buy a goat around here, but those goats are expensive. I puny little goat coasts 900 dollars (4500 gourdes), for a tiny goat. But that doesn’t mean goats are a big deal.
Islande: Yes. Nobody wants to say anything else?
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): Well, I’d simply like to thank you.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): For this nice meeting.
Jackly: Mmm hmm. You may speak.
*****
Islande: When is the best time to buy goats on the market? When is the price lowest?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): At the start of the school year in September is best. Or during the exam period in June. Lots of people are selling goats to raise money for [school fees]. You can buy goats the rest of the year, but they are expensive.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Right now goats are very very expensive.
Islande: Why is that?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): There are many people looking to buy goats, so it drives the price up.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Those people sold cows in December. Now they need goats. In December they were expensive, so they waited until now to buy goats. But the price has increased even more…
Audience: OK
(Moment of silence)
Islande: Let me ask you a personal question, why did you choose to be goat breeders?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, what made us choose to become goat breeders is because . Everyone engages in some type of commerce. They make 50 HTG to pay for school for their child. We buy and resell goats to help our family in the same way.
Islande: Does anyone want to add something?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Raising and selling goats is our profession. You can make profit if you do it well, make 500 dola (2,500 HTG) in profit. You use that money to send your child to school, buy them shoes, or to replinish your herd.
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): You see, after you buy a goat and papers for 400 dola (2,000 HTG). You can sell it for a profit of 50 or 80 dola (250 or 450 HTG).
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It won’t make you a fortune, but it provides a liviing. You can turn around and sell a goat that you buy for 400 dola (2,000 HTG) for 420, 430 dola (2,100, 2150 HTG) to someone in the community. But if you take it to the market you can sell it for more. A goat can sell for 500 dola (2,500 HTG) at the market in Milfò. 530 dola (2,650 HTG) if it is good specimen.
Islande : 530 dola?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes, because the goat has the potential to grow big and bare children.
*****
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): For example, I might offer 400 dola (2,000 HTG) for a goat, but another herder comes along and buys it for 500 dola (2,500 HTG). We would have something to argue about.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Well, that wouldn’t necessarily lead to a fight. The person who offers more money has the right to buy the goat.
****
##Slaughtering Goats
Islande: OK, does anybody here kill goats?
Public (Lafem): Kill a goat under what conditions?
Islande: No, kill a goat. Who slaughers goats?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Ha! A butcher.
Jackly: The butcher?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Butcher?
Islande: Hmm!
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, there’s no butcher.
Islande: Who is the person who slaughters goats for food in your household?
Public (Lafem): Oh! Yes.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): I kill the goats at my house.
Islande: Oh! And who is the person who slaughters the goats to eat. You do?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes.
Islande: Who else here slaughters goats?
Public (Lafem): Yes.
Islande: Do you slaughter goats for your neighbors, or other people?
Public (Lafem): No, I slaughter my own goats.
Islande: OK, does anybody call in somebody else to come slaughter your goats for you?
Public (Lafem): I don’t call in other people, I have people who can slaughter them in my household.
Islande: In the area, how do you hear when somebody’s slaughtering a goat?
Jackly: When they kill a goat, what do they give the person who does it?
Islande: How much money do they give the person, or what do they give the person?
Jackly: Or what do they give?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When, for example, when they give birth in the countryside, the husband has to have a goat so he can take care of the wife, to have money for the baby. We don’t know about that.
Jackly: What?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It’s up to the husband to have a goat to slaughter so he can take care of his wife while she’s confined in bed.
Public (Lafem): No, what we need… to see the goat…
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Do people call you to come kill a goat.
Islande: Mmm hmm!
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): There are people who have someone come to slaughter a goat, and them give them a piece of the animal.
Islande: Mmm hmm!
Jackly: OK.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): As payment.
Jackly: As payment.
Islande: As compensation. OK, is there another…
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): After that, you might get a little something.
Islande: Like what?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Another little piece of meat, like the neck, to lift my spirits.
Islande: Mmm hmm!
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): And then after that they give me another little piece. (laughter)
Jackly: OK.
Islande: But they don’t pay them, they give them the neck?
Public (Lafem): Yes. They don’t give them money.
Jackly: But a goat’s neck, how much do those sell for around here?
Islande: They don’t sell them in that case?
Public (Lafem): They can, if it’s part of the little bit of meat you get. (laughter)
Islande: So, let me say something. If the person slaughters two goats, do they get two necks?
Public (Lafem): No, they give him the whole neck (laughter). They split it and give him one side.
Islande: Ah, they don’t give him the whole neck?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): They give him a piece of it.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, they don’t give him the whole neck.
Jackly: There are places where they give you the neck.
Islande: Are there places where they give the whole neck, instead of a piece?
Jackly: If the person kills 10 goats he gets 10 necks (laughter). That’s the butcher that does that.
Islande: Number 7 is speaking, let him speak.
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): If you call someone to come do you a favor, you might not know how to kill an animal, you might call someone to come and slaughter it for you. It’s a favor they’re doing for your household.
Islande: OK.
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): You can cut the neck and give them a piece of it.
Islande: Mmm hmm!
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): He takes it home. If you want to give him a little something more, you do.
Islande: OK.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): A butcher, when he does it for you it’s not a favor. He comes to do a job, which means you give him the neck as payment.
Islande: Yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): The butcher doesn’t get the neck. They cut if right here, like that, with the head and neck, that’s the prie for a young little goat.
#7 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 0, Farmer, 0): Yes, the head is the price of a little goat. They give the person a piece of meat, then the gentleman says he works for money, and they choose a little something to give the person so he’ll go home.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): And if he steals some little bits of tripe he can take those, too. (laughter) That’s the only job that is not detestable. Yes, it’s the only thing that’s not detestable about it.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, there was one person who died around here.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): What happened?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): A commotion.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Ah, what did you get… ?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Well, the person who died…
****
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): The butcher would slaughter a pig in the morning, and then he’d watch, and send for a goat he had in his depot. He’d kill it, and then people would buy meat to cook at home. Things were beautiful in town, beautiful on the outskirts of town, but since Mathew came through everything has faded. That’s something we can’t forget.
***
Islande: Thanks for your response, but I don’t think you follow my question. I want to know what proportion of the goats you keep to breed vs. the goats that you resell.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): At least 60% of the goats are raised for slaughter.
Islande: For meat?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes. That means that we will keep 40% for breeding. 4 for breeding, 6 for slaughter. You only want to keep the best goats for breeding. But the numbers depend on the quality of goats available at the market.
***
Islande: Do any of you butcher goats?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): We butcher our own goats, but we don’t do it professionally.
Islande: You don’t butcher goats for other people?
Undentified respondent: No
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): I do sometimes…
Islande: How do they compensate you for this service?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): They give me the goat’s neck and some of the cooked meat.
Islande: They don’t pay you [money]?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): No, not exactly. But the neck meat is like money.
Islande: Do you ever sell the meat for money.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): No
##Goat Meat
Islande: At what age is a goat ready to be slaughtered? At what age do you find a goat is prepared, how long?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Goat meat is good to eat at any age,.
Islande: Goat meat is going to be good to eat?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): At three months goat meat is good to eat, because it depends on the way the person cares for the goat in his pasture. There are goats that get to three months and they don’t resemble a goat, there are goats at three months, you can go sell them for good money.
Islande: Between buying a goat, between eating a goat that’s three months old and eating one that’s nine months old, is there a difference?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No, but the one that has the most meat is better.
Islande: The meat is better?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes, it’s more ripe.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You’ll get more meat.
Islande: Yes, it’s better if its bigger. It’s bigger.
Jackly: Is the meat tastier?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Yes.
Islande: Better, yes. Tastier.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): It’s tastier.
Islande: And better…
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): Because there is more of it…
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): It’s tastier because it’s more mature.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When you take a young goat that’s still nursing I know the meat is not good.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): No, because the goat is more…
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): The meat is tougher.
Islande: OK.
Jackly: Werewolves say the flesh of a child is tastier than an adult’s [at reference to the Haitian lougawou, a werewolf or witch thought to eat children, and commonly blamed for illnesses]
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): My friends, there are goats that don’t develop properly, goats that don’t develop. You might kill a kid that is three months old, still following its mother, you slaughter a three-month-old goat and that’s the meat you eat.
Jackly: OK.
****
Islande: In the La Ferme market, do you sell goats here, or slaughter them to sell here?
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes.
Islande: How many goats a week might you slaughter?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): There are…
Islande: Well, OK, when do you slaughter goats?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): They kill them Saturdays and Tuesdays, but there are days when they don’t slaughter any.
Islande: Mmm hmm, they slaughter them at certain times.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): This is a good time for it. It’s a good time, especially when there is breadfruit.
Islande: Mmm hmm, OK. When?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): People eat more of the meat in that season.
Islande: Hmm, you need meat to eat breadfuit?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Yes.
Islande: When is goat meat most expensive in the market? In what season is goat most expensive in the market?
****
Islande: Are there women who sell cooked food? Who cooks food to sell?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): That’s for marketwomen to do, sell a big pot of rice.
Islande: Mmm hmm! Do they make sauce with it?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): They make their little herring sauce.
Islande: Mmm hmm. They don’t make a sauce with goat?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): No.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): They don’t have anything to make goat sauce with. (laughter)
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It won’t work out well for the marketwoman.
Islande: The way 13 put it, that’s something very important!
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): She would have to find people to come buy, who would pay her. People here won’t come to buy.
Islande: OK.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): People will buy something for 10 gourdes, 15 gourdes.
Islande: Ah?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): For 20 gourdes. To get the fire going, cook food, you’d have to give the person 20 gourdes for them to put goat in it.
Islande: OK, is there a market around here where they slaughter goats to sell, to butcher and sell?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Cut up the meat? Yes.
Islande: Goat?
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes.
Islande: How many do they slaughter when there is a market?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8.
Islande: Hmm.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): There are two butchers, three sometimes when things are busy. Each kills one goat. There are three I know who slaughter.
Islande : Goats.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): But there are times when they don’t all slaughter anything. Sometimes just two do. They slaughter goats, pigs. When there’s business, but when there’s no activity each might kill one.
Jackly: How often is there business? When you say there is business, when there’s a holiday?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): When there’s beans, or coffee. At harvest time.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Listen to her big words! Coffee?
Public (Lafem): And then in corn season.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Corn season.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): When Mathew hadn’t yet taken, hadn’t yet destroyed people’s yams, when the season arrived when they were ready, number 4 speaking, when they were ready and people needed to buy food, meat was the only thing they bought.
Islande: Spices, salt.
****
Islande: Mmm hmm! How do you eat the goat?
Jackly: What are the different ways you can eat a goat?
Islande: Mmm hmm, what different ways.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Hmm.
Jackly: There are several ways a person can eat goat meat. What are the differences?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Number 8.
Islande: Mmm hmm!
Jackly: Fry it…
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): There are people who like boiled meat. It has more vitamins.
Jackly: Mmm hmm.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): There are people who fry meat. They don’t fry it dry, they fry it. Me, I like boiled meat. It has more vitamins. It’s better for me.
Jackly: That’s two, OK, fried and boiled. Are there no other ways?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Me, I like my meat in a soup. I eat that or any fried meat, that’s what I like.
Jackly: There are places where they say they make stew, ragout. Do they do that around here?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Yes.
Jackly: How do they make it? What’s that thing they call kowosòl?
Public (Lafem): Kowosol, that’s it.
#8 They don’t cook that separately.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You close it when it’s time to…
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): It has liquid in it. It’s no joke. It’s food for old people.
Islande: Do you ever put in dried meat, when they slaughter a goat, you don’t want to wind up disliking it.
Jackly: Meat gets wasted.
Islande: Meat gets wasted, you discard it.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): My friend, the business of heating up meat, that’s something that creates problems. When I was a baker, I could slaughter an animal and some wouldn’t get cooked there. I had no refrigerator, I just put it in hot water over a fire, and put in the meat. In the end, you go into the bakery, he took two hours, and in the end you wrap it in whatever clothes you have, put it into a suitcase and travel wherever you want with it.
Jackly: Dry?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): When you cook it, it gets sweet. It doesn’t go bad but sometimes they put it in the sun or the fire, so the rest of the animal would get wasted.
Jackly: Yes.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): That’s why when an animal dies like that they get it, I cook my part and I don’t eat anything else. I eat my part and when I’m done I stop.
(laughter)
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): Because last time somebody sent meat to the house, my friend, since we’re not old people, and old people don’t’ beat old people, you’re not supposed to take it. They wouldn’t give it to you. An animal is slaughtered and you give people some of the meat, and then you take the rest. It’s not an illness the person has brought you!?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): When you have a freshly slaughtered animal it gives you vitamins. When the meat has been there a while it starts to emit an odor. Then it’s not good any more. That meat has expired. Me, if I slaughter a goat, I kill it to use it. The tripe won’t last, but I’ll wash the goat meat well, bring out my big pot, spice my goat meat, boil it. Then I let it cool off, and put it in a cooking pot, and whenever I need it I take a little piece and I make food. If I just leave it it spoils. It starts to smell and it’s not good any more.
Islande: How long can you leave it in the cooking pot?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): Until the meat has finished boiling and cooled off. After that you put it in a separate pot, if you don’t have a refrigerator.
Islande: How long does it last? Will it last a week?
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): That depends. That depends.
Islande: Can it last a week, can it last three days?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): You should eat it the next day, God willing.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): If you’re brave you can eat it over two days.
#13 (Lafem, Male, 37 years old, 4, Farmer, 9th): It cooks all day, and gets eaten.
#8 (Lafem, Female, 39 years old, 1, Farmer, 6th): You eat and eat!
Islande: Number 12.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Me, I cut it up and put it on the fire. Then I add salt, I put orange in it. Then I put the meat on the fire. I make the fire bigger. When you first start a fire you don’t make the flames big.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): If I have chicken I don’t make a big fire. When you have meat and you don’t make a big fire the meat might stay on a long time and get dried out. When you add leaves to the fire it gets smokey. The meat lingers on the fire and gets yellowed. That meat can stay in the house so there will be meat.
Jackly: OK.
Islande: That’s the way they do it. When the meat has been dried, how do you cook it?
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): That meat isn’t cooked. You don’t boil it. You cook meat like that as if it were fresh.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): You don’t boil it. If you are making it like fresh meat you will soak it.
Islande: Mmm hmm.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): Put it under water and soak it, then it will get softer. Then wash it and put it on the fire. But it will have a salty taste still.
Islande: OK.
#12 (Lafem, Female, 56 years old, 4, Farmer, 4th): You can boil meat like that with congo beans, you put it under the beans.
*****
Islande: The hurricane set you all back a lot! The last question I have is, what are the different ways that you prepare and eat goat here?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Usually a merchant butchers a goat at the market and sells it in cuts. Sometimes you slaughter a goat to celebrate a special occasion, like a baptism. That’s how we eat goats here.
Islande: How do you prepare the meat? Do you fry it, boil it, etc.?
Audience: We fry it. We boil it.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): We eat the blood of the goat, we make a stew with the feet and bowels. That’s very good with plantains, good plantains, and miske plantains. We also eat it fried or boiled with yams.
Islande: Do you ever salt and dry the meat?
Audience: Yes
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, we smoke it and dry it on roof sheeting
Islande: How long does smoking preserve the meat?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Smoked goat meat can last for around 3 months. Smoked beef last much longer, it doesn’t spoil as easily.
Islande: You smoke it over the fire?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd):Yes, we hang it over the fire smoke and then dry it under the sun on the roof.
*****
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Another advantage is that goats have more nutritious meat than pigs. Pork has a good taste in your mouth, but isn’t as healthy. You’ll see a lot of people refuse to eat pork, but everyone will eat goat.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): That’s right. If you slaughter a goat, its meat will sell faster in the market than beef or pork.
#7 (Daye, M, 46, 2, Farmer, 0): Goat meat “carries” (pote) 12 months, while beef only “carries” for 6 months [a way of saying that goat meat has more value].
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Beef can also be tough. You have to manage the cow so that isn’t too tough.
Islande: What do you mean you say “goat meat carries for 12 months?”
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): It sells for more per gram than beef.
Islande: Ahh, ok. Would anyone else like to add anything?
##Horns, Hooves and Skin
Islande: OK, I guess I’m finished, but I have one last question. How do you eat goat meat? Before I ask how you eat goat, when they kill the goat, what do they do with the horns?
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): The horn?
Islande: Mmm hmm!
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): So, I know they grate the goat’s head, and then they take off the horn and discard it. The skin around the horn and throw it away.
Islande: They leave the klidoub bone.
#4 (Lafem, Male, 62 years old, 8, Farmer, 6th): They take it out to boil it.
Islande: Mmm hmm! It’s the same for everybody? I noticed you haven’t answered.
Public (Lafem): Yes, yes, that’s the way it is.
Islande: OK, and when they slaughter the goat, how do they kill it? Do they cut it or skin it?
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): They skin it. There are no more pigs. The same people who need the hide for drums, they skin their own. When that’s done, they put it outside for somebody to buy it. (laughter)
Islande: And then they can’t find one.
#3 (Lafem, Male, 65 years old, 6, Farmer, 9th): There’s not just one society that does that. You have to cut it to get the hide, then to buy the hide from another one. It’s a little something you get out of it, but I haven’t. (laughter)
*****
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): We also harvest the hide to make things, like drums. It can be sold.
Islande: Ahh, you sell goat hides?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Yes, goat hides to make drums.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): We remove the hide when we butcher the goat. You scrape it clean and hang it [to dry].
Islande: If you slaugher 4 goats, how many do you use the hide for?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Maybe 1
Islande: You skin one and leave the other 3 hides?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Yes
Islande: Where do you sell the hides?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): There are people in the community that buy the hides to cover drums. The demand isn’t great. Sometimes people take them to the markets in Leyon or Mafran to sell.
Islande: Do you do anything with the horns?
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): No, we don’t really use the horns.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Well, some places use them…
#4 (Daye, F, 49, 4, Farmer, 5th): Goats have two sets of horns. We throw away the set higher on their head, but we save the small horns.
#8 (Daye, M, 58, 4, Farmer, 4th): Like a little bone.
Islande: Bone klidoup?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): There are a couple places where they make handicrafts using the hide and horns, like pouches or cups.
Islande: Interesting. Where is this?
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): I have seen it done here. I’ve seen people with the horns…
Islande: You’ve seen the horns? Does anyone buy them for handicrafts or other uses?
Audience: No, they don’t buy it.
#3 (Daye, M, 62, 9, Farmer, 2nd): Most people throw the horns away, so you could collect them for free if you wanted to do something with them.
