Podcast Summary:

New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Tami Parr
Episode: "Goats in America: A Cultural History" (Oregon State UP, 2025)
Release Date: October 23, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on Dr. Tami Parr's new book, Goats in America: A Cultural History. The conversation delves into the deep, surprising, and often contradictory role goats have played in American history—spanning their early arrival with colonists, shifting cultural reputations, associations with immigrant communities, women’s economic empowerment, legal suppression, and resurgence in modern urban farming. Dr. Parr and Dr. Melcher take listeners through a lively, chronological exploration, revealing how goats have been intertwined with issues of class, ethnicity, gender roles, and U.S. foodways.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins: Goats’ Arrival in the Americas

• Goats, like other domesticated animals, are not native to the Western Hemisphere; they arrived during the colonial period.
  • Two major waves: Columbus’s second voyage (to the Caribbean), and 17th-century English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonization of the East Coast.
  • Goats’ role on ships: Their small size and ability to provide milk and meat made them ideal for long voyages. Ship captains even released goats onto islands as rest stops for resupplying vessels.
  • (04:20)

2. Colonial and 19th Century Perceptions

• Goats’ reputation as the "poor man's cow":
  • Goats were practical for subsistence but less "valued" than cattle, which produced more milk/meat.
  • Goats’ foraging and escape-artist tendencies made them unpopular—they damaged crops, ate fruit tree bark, and defied fences.
  • Direct regulatory attempts, and even outright bans, were implemented in places like Boston and Cambridge when goats damaged prized fruit trees (09:21).
  • Quote:

    “Goats are always... getting into corn fields in the colonial era. They were always getting loose and bothering people and so on. So that contributed to the negative reputation...”
    — Dr. Tami Parr (08:54)

3. Goats, Immigration, and Prejudice

• 19th-century backlash: Goats became associated with Irish immigrants, who kept them for survival in urban shantytowns. Nativist sentiments fused “goat” with “Irish,” and satirical press depicted Irish men as goats or gave goats Irish names & negative attributes.
  • “If you called someone a goat, you... probably meant they were Irish.” (13:12)
• This stereotype reinforced social hierarchies and xenophobia.
  • (11:09–14:34)

4. Goat Milk: From Scourge to Savior

• Pivot in perception: With the rise of germ theory and increased awareness of milk-borne diseases (especially tuberculosis), goats’ image shifted. Cow milk was found to spread tuberculosis; goats were (incorrectly) believed immune, and goat milk was recast as safe and healthful.
• Goat dairies proliferated, and the press swung from scornful to effusive:
  • Quote:

    “Goats are saviors of mankind. I mean really, just like so superlative, so many sort of funny superlatives about goats and how amazing suddenly goats are.”
    —Dr. Tami Parr (17:05)

• Economic value and social status of goats increased rapidly.
  • (15:11–18:44)

5. Women and the Goat Dairy Industry

• The goat dairy boom enabled more women to enter agriculture and achieve economic independence, as dairy work intersected with caretaking roles and health reform.
• Professional women like Irmagaard Richards (Mills College) became prominent educators and advocates in goat dairying.
  • Quote:

    “A whole new generation of women took up goat dairying and really professional farming as an independent way of life... improving, working toward improving society.”
    —Dr. Tami Parr (23:17)

  • (20:21–24:20)

6. Goat Meat Industry: A Failed Transition

• While goat milk soared, goat meat never overcame negative perceptions among mainstream Americans.
• Angora ranchers tried—sometimes by misbranding goat as mutton or inventing names like “chevon”—but public suspicion and regulatory backlash doomed the venture.
  • Quote:

    “They also tried to create a name for goat meat that did not contain the word goat... it generated this entire drama that really, even if there was an opportunity to market goat's meat, really, they doomed the enterprise with that whole thing.”
    —Dr. Tami Parr (26:49)

  • (24:41–28:59)

7. Colonial Stereotypes and the Navajo (Diné) Community

• Goats were vital to Navajo economy and culture in the Southwest; after U.S. acquisition of the territory, government officials weaponized anti-goat stereotypes to justify the devastating livestock reduction programs of the early 20th century.
• Officials blamed Navajo goats for land degradation—ignoring drought and environmental context—and destroyed goat populations en masse.
  • Quote:

    “Officials rounded up animals, sold them, in many cases, just would herd up goats, shot them, leave piles of carcasses everywhere.”
    —Dr. Tami Parr (32:54)

• Recovery of traditions and herds is ongoing; regulations now restrict livestock numbers and grazing rights. Newer generations risk losing knowledge of traditional goat herding and cheesemaking.
  • (28:59–36:44)

8. Post-WWII Decline and 1970s Goat Cheese Renaissance

• Goat milk's popularity waned after WWII as tuberculosis fears receded, cow milk became safer (due to pasteurization/eradication programs), and goat dairies couldn’t scale to compete.
• The 1970s–80s counterculture, with its "back to the land" ethos, saw a goat revival. Goats became starter animals in communes, and the health food store movement created urban markets for goat milk and cheese.
• Key catalyst: Laura Chanel launched French-style goat cheese production, collaborating with chef Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), which mainstreamed goat cheese in American food culture.
  • Quote:

    “Goat cheese kind of vaulted into much the way that goat's milk vaulted into prominence in the early 20th century. Now, goat's milk cheese really sort of took off in the 1980s and it went crazy.”
    —Dr. Tami Parr (43:15)

  • (37:34–43:39)

9. Urban Goats and Contemporary Trends

• Goat bans in cities have loosened as urban farming revived. Influential stories (e.g., Novella Carpenter’s Farm City, Jenny Grant’s “Goat Justice League” campaign in Seattle) have spurred legal reforms and media attention, though goats remain a niche pet-livestock due to upkeep costs.
• Goats remain emblematic of the cyclical, resilient, and subcultural nature of food and farming in America.
  • (44:05–47:00)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On goats’ early role:

  "...often put goats on the ships. Goats were small and it was sort of a live milk and meat supply."
  — Dr. Tami Parr (04:35)

• On immigrant associations:

  "...Irishman and his goat, or the Irishman as a goat. So if you called someone a goat, you... probably meant they were Irish."
  — Dr. Tami Parr (13:12)

• On the sudden reversal for goat's milk:

  "...the industry just exploded. Goat's milk dairies, caves sprouted up everywhere, all across the country... the association of goat's milk and health and wellness started here."
  — Dr. Tami Parr (17:57)

• On gender and dairy work:

  "The dairy was always traditionally women’s work... It really was a time, sort of a convergence of events and social movements that allowed women, I think, to really seize upon the goat dairying as a means of having independent income and profession."
  — Dr. Tami Parr (22:24, 23:53)

• On government destruction of Navajo herds:

  "Officials rounded up animals, sold them, in many cases, just would herd up goats, shot them, leave piles of carcasses everywhere..."
  — Dr. Tami Parr (32:54)

• On urban goat resurgence:

  "[Goat keeping is] a mini back to the land movement... but I think urban goat keeping will always be a thing, no matter what."
  — Dr. Tami Parr (46:27)

Timeline of Important Segments

• 01:33–04:20: Book origins; Dr. Parr’s research journey from cheese to goats
• 04:20–09:10: Goats in colonial America, early reputation, and arrival
• 09:10–15:11: Laws against goats; negative stereotypes, immigrant associations
• 15:11–20:21: Goat milk's rise to health fad amid tuberculosis fears
• 20:21–24:34: Women and the goat dairy industry
• 24:34–28:59: Failed attempts to popularize goat meat
• 28:59–36:44: Goat stereotypes and Navajo (Diné) land/livelihood destruction
• 36:44–40:25: Postwar decline; rise of goat cheese in the counterculture and food revolution
• 40:25–43:39: Modern goat cheese; Laura Chanel and the gourmet movement
• 43:39–47:00: Goats in contemporary urban settings, regulation, and future outlook
• 47:18–48:35: Dr. Parr’s future research interests and closing remarks

Conclusion

Goats in America: A Cultural History upends assumptions about the humble goat’s place in the U.S., revealing how this animal has been a repeated flashpoint for debates about class, race, gender, and what it means to belong. With an engaging anecdotal style, Dr. Parr and Dr. Melcher trace the goat’s journey from colonial lifeline to urban oddity—reminding us that where the goat goes, bigger social stories are never far behind.