For the love of goats: the advantages of alterity

Abstract

Small-scale, artisanal livestock production is framed as ''other'' by conventional livestock producers, and rural communities. This alterity, although not without cost, allows women to be involved as active entrepreneurs and managers in artisanal livestock production and also allows farmers to pursue management strategies with the explicit purpose of enhancing animal welfare. The case study presented here, an artisanal goat dairy farm managed by three women, demonstrates that by embracing feminine care identities, these women carve a space for themselves within livestock production in which they can pursue their own economic and affective goals. Analysis of ethnographic data also demonstrates that farmers' decisionmaking regarding animal production is based on both affective and instrumental concerns. If we are to understand and operationalize the affective component of farmer decision making based on the livestock-farmer relationship, we must begin to consider to what extent livestock themselves are social actors.

Assessment of feeding and watering practices for raising goats in Punjab, Pakistan

“…It means that livestock/goats would provide additional income thus supporting the family. Our results also were in line with that of Finan (2011) who revealed the participation of women in goat keeping. It meant that livestock played a major role in poverty reduction and can help eradicate this by facilitating poor farmers through proper marketing facilities of their product and produce.…”

Does direct farm marketing fulfill its promises? analyzing job satisfaction among direct-market farmers in Canada

“…Compared to the national average, a disproportionate number of surveyed farmers also practiced organic farming. Furthermore, while most farmers marketing through conventional supply chains are men, almost half of respondents were women, which echoes the results of previous studies that point to a large presence of female producers in SFSCs, agritourism, and organic farming (DeLind and Ferguson 1999;McGehee et al 2007;Tijani and Yano 2007;Trauger 2004;Trauger et al 2010;Finan 2011;Jarosz 2011;Sumner and Llewelyn 2011;Annes and Wright 2015).…”

Goats, materials and uncertainty in Nairobi

“…Much of the literature on human–animal relations and animal husbandry (Haraway 2008; De Heusch 1985; Broch-Due 1990) emphasizes animals as ‘social actors’, the co-constitution of human and animal subjectivities, and the intertwining of ‘both affective and instrumental concerns’ in animal production (Finan 2011: 81). Kiamaiko’s workers and goats rarely have much opportunity to develop the kinds of relations extolled by such studies; most goats are slaughtered within hours of arrival.…”