Dr. Olcott: Okay. Pygmy goats are kind of scattered all along that trail of time that I practiced in the United States. They’re certainly not a big
0:05:00.2 percentage of the goats that we see, but there’s always a pygmy goat there and for the most part, with big herds of goats we kind of see different problems than we do with small herds of goats. Pygmy goats kind of fall into that small herd kind of problem group where their problems are often actually too much (unintelligible) from the owners. That’s probably the biggest burden that pygmy goats carry.

Tammy: Spoiled pygmy goats.

Dr. Olcott: Spoiled pygmy goats. Now over in Bangladesh they have what they call a black bangle goat, which they’re pretty proud over there, and in many ways that’s just like a pygmy that they have several kiddings a year, they’re highly fertile, early-maturing, real small stature kind of goats, so they’re a real similar breed to pygmies and there’s tens of thousands of those in Bangladesh.

Tammy: Have you seen more pygmy goats as pets?

Dr. Olcott: We see…I guess it’s been pretty steady over, let’s say, the last 10 years anyhow down here in Louisiana that we have kind of a steady kind of stream of them coming into the clinic and being seen out in the field.

Tammy: Do you think they make good pets?

Dr. Olcott: Yeah. I would say that goats are a little bit different than other pets that people keep and they can be trying at times. Back when I was a veterinary student, in fact, we had our surgery goats, we kept them, and those goats ended up sleeping in the house one day and eating all the houseplants in the house and getting in the garden and eating the garden, so there are things that goats can do that are a little different than other pets. But they’re certainly…They’re beguiling animals. They’re interesting to veer at.
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