County Goat Patrol

Beware of the watch goat?

This domesticated ruminant keeps a keen eye out for trespassers – or possibly anyone with a carrot – while standing atop some scrap metal at property on Preston Place off Highway 49 north of Sonora.

Goats, so say ag researchers and those in the know, have served mankind earlier and longer than cattle and sheep and are managed for the production of milk, meat and wool, particularly in arid, semitropical or mountainous countries. In the United States, there are between 2 and 4 million head. California leads the nation in dairy goats.

Goats can survive on bushes, trees, desert scrub and aromatic herbs when sheep and cattle would starve to death. But whether or not they really eat tin cans and trash, guess we just won´t know.