Are goats really just small cows?

Abstract

It would be so easy to make the bovine the standard by which we judge all ruminants. Unfortunately, nothing in life is ever so sim­ple. Yes, goats and cows have hair, four legs, and are ruminants. After that, the changes begin. In this talk, we will discuss both similarities and differences between cows and goats, with a bit of sheep information thrown in for good measure. There are many ways bovine veterinarians can easily cross over to the small ru­minant world but a few words of caution will be helpful to stay out of trouble. The focus of this talk is production medicine based but we will include some pharmacologic differences, too.