destructive goats

Goats, which account for more than half of all grazing animals on the grasslands, can be more lucrative than other livestock, but they're also much more destructive than the sheep they've replaced because they eat roots and the

uxury fashion house Kering, owners of Gucci and Stella McCartney, identified a challenge in their supply chain: exponentially increasing demand for cashmere had led to a four-fold increase in goats nationwide over the span of a decade. The challenges were multi-faceted. The overabundance of goats were devouring local vegetation, even the roots. With nothing to anchor the soil, giant dust storms began to form, causing significant problems for the herders and reducing air quality in cities from Beijing to California. Local biodiversity suffered, with less forage available for already rare wildlife. Herders were also struggling; as the quality of the cashmere was decreasing, prices per goat were falling.

the grazing goats have meant less vegetation available for native large mammals in this remote and arid ecosystem. Numbers of gazelle and khulan (an Asiatic wild ass) have fallen, meaning less food for snow leopards, whose population has also dropped

Cashmere production is harmful to the environment because it is a significant contributor to soil degradation followed by desertification. Cashmere goats, who must consume 10% of their bodyweight in food each day, eat the roots of grasses, so they can never grow back. In fact, 65% of Mongolia’s grasslands have already been degraded, and 90% of Mongolia is in danger of desertification, which has led to some of the world’s worst dust storms on record and air pollution dense enough to reach North America

cashmere goats. Their sharp hooves cut through the soil surface, and their eating habits — voraciously ripping up plants by their roots — make it impossible for grass to thrive. But thriving isn't a problem for the goats.

The goats, which grow cashmere as an undercoat, are especially destructive. Cashmere is a cash crop and a useful export for Mongolia, what one tourist website refers to as "the nomad's ATM". But goats destroy pasture far more than camels, horses or cattle and the deterioration in the quality and variety of grasses forces herders to raise more animals to eke out more cash from the same land.

We know that the goats have sharp hooves that can break through the topsoil. The way they eat is they eat the grass and the plants all the way from the roots up, so that it's really hard for the grass to regenerate," she says. "That combination of having so many goats that the land can't handle — and that [the land]

After the collapse of the communist Mongolian People’s Republic in 1990, Mongolia abandoned the quota system that previously governed the number of animals permitted to graze on its lands. Since then, its grazing livestock population has jumped from 20 million to 61.5 million. Goats now account for more than half of all livestock, which has proven environmentally disastrous: Goats eat the roots and flowers needed to seed new grasses, so when a herd uproots a pasture, what grows back is sparser and often poisonous (inedible plants generally replace native grasses). Unmoored soil is swept up into dust storms, reaching as far south as Beijing and Hong Kong.

destructive goats Goats are particularly destructive to rangelands due to their grazing habits. By uprooting palatable vegetation, they cause desertification or the transition of a landscape into one dominated by invasive or otherwise undesirable species. Other livestock species are inherently more sustainable. Consumers may be advised to seek animal-based fibres from animals that graze more lightly or more selectively. Herders may be encouraged to keep mixed herds.