Les Chèvres de Paulhac
My first encounter with the goats of
Paulhac* was in late May, when I decided to have an afternoon picnic with them
as they were grazing outside the farm. I do not know whether it was the sublime
beauty of the nature in spring or the wondrous experience of sharing a meal
together with this agile herd, but I was definitely captivated by this energy
and decided to discover more about the goats. Luckily, the installation of the fromagerie
(the cheese room) in Paulhac was scheduled to take place in early summer,
giving me the chance to get more involved with the milking of the goats and
making cheese.
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| picnic with the goats and Zita, May 2015 |
Before starting to work with the goats, my
image of them was quite stereotypical: they are the kind of animal that
constantly butt their head against the wall or against those around them! I
knew that goats were fiercely (and sometimes unjustifiably) stubborn, impossible
to control due to their obsession with their independence, and capricious! In
my defence, goats really do carry these characteristics. In fact, the French
word for the goat is la chèvre, which comes from the Latin word capra -the same root for caprice! Nonetheless, beneath these
characteristics lie deeply wise animals with a strong sense of perseverance and
diligence, always seeking new heights.
It is not surprising that diligence and
perseverance are not the first characteristics that strike us about the goats. Many
of us associate goats with domestication (they are one of the first animals to
be domesticated), imagining them meandering around in a farm and assisting us
with our agricultural needs through their supply of milk, cheese, mohair, and
meat. However, goats have had a long-term presence in human life across
different cultures, religions, and myths long before their domestication. Since
ancient times, their ability to land on their feet in uncharted territories that
were inaccessible to others has been deeply admired. In Greek
mythology, goats can be found in the stories of Zeus, who himself was nursed by
a goat mother. Often, goats are referred as ‘the thunder’ in these stories,
symbolizing
rapidity and exceptional bravery, which can be seen in the wild half-man,
half-goat character of Pan. In India, goats are considered ‘the mother of the
world’ due to their intuitive and diligent nature. On the negative side, goats
can also be associated with sin or too much self- sacrifice, as the word
‘scapegoat’ indicates.
In France, goats play a prestigious role in many different stories and
plays for children, such as La Chèvre de Monsieur
Seguin (Monsieur
Seguin’s Goat), which is a story about a young goat that demands to be
independent from the farmer Monsieur Seguin.
Similarly, goats are included in the fables of Jean de la Fontaine, notably
in Les Deux Chevres (The Two Goats),
where two goats butting heads against each other on a bridge have the unfortunate
ending of falling off the bridge in their quest for glory. As I was playing
with the children in Verfeil, I discovered that they affectionately love the barbes-de-chevre, referring to it in
their drawings or their game la
barbichette (the goatee) where they sing a song and try to hold each other
by the barbichette. Last but not
least, goats enter our daily life in France through linguistics, as the word biquette (a young female goat) is also affectionately
used for meaning sweetheart. Whenever someone is being unbearably stubborn and
debilitating, and forces us to stand our ground, we use the phrase devenir
chèvre (to
become like a goat).
I find myself
“becoming like a goat” quite often when I am working with the goats in Paulhac as
we have a strong group of flamboyant characters. The predominant breed in the
herd is Provençale, though we named the goats based on their character and
family, not based on their breed. The Provençale goats are diverse in
appearance, but they are characterized by their rough looks and large ears.
Their ability to produce milk for a long time makes them desirable for many farms.
Before I add some pictures of the herd, I would like to introduce you to some
different families and their special members. The main family is the family of Combat, and as you can imagine, the main
chief of the herd, Balkan, belongs to this family. Being the eldest of the herd
(we celebrated her tenth birthday on March 17th), Balkan is able to claim
her status as the Queen by
threateningly gritting her teeth and tapping
others.
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| Milking Balkan (the Chief of the Herd) October2015 |
While feeding the goats, we start hierarchically with Balkan, followed
by Grabugue. Together with Joystar and Java, Grabugue belongs to the second
main family: the family of Bordel. As
their name indicates, this family loves creating a mess in the farm, such as
putting the hay on their horns instead of their mouths while eating. Because
the member of this family is quite fond of tapping others or attempting to
escape while eating, we have to attach them with much more attention. Another
important family in the herd is the family of Pétrole (Kérosène and Gasoline), which got their name and reputation as fecund goats due to
their abundance in milk. Since mid-February, our family has become bigger with
the arrival of new cabris (kids) and their exhausting exuberance and vitality. I am looking forward to seeing
how these new babies will evolve in time into their unique, colourful
character!
*Paulhac is a small village 2 km away from
Verfeil sur Seye (Tarn et Garonne) (in the direction of Villefranche de
Rouergue).
