Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with goat

Where can I find life-sized, realistic goat replica quickly and for not too much money?

thewrongparty — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:19:34 -0800

I'm posting this on behalf of someone helping a theater company source some props (this is not his usual job and he isn't an experienced prop guy). The play is The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia?, by Edward Albee. This is an unusual and the goat is central to the plot, so they need a realistic-looking goat on stage. (It cannot be a comical goat.) They can't spend much money, so they are okay with borrowing or renting the goat. He's sent out some emails to theaters who've recently done this play for advice. I found this reasonably priced version and this awesome but expensive thing that I sort of want to keep for myself.

I thought there might be some experienced prop people among the mefites with some suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

Insert your own goat-related pun here.

typewriter — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:55:44 -0800

Should I buy a goat for Christmas? I am not buying any Christmas gifts this year, instead donating to charity including the first one in this comment. This is the first time I have done this absolutely no-gifts across the board thing, because I have always felt that my mother's side just would not understand. So, in the past I would buy everyone a plant or chocolate or some other stupid thing that I would resent. (Huge family.) This year, I would like to hand each person a card indicating that I have made a donation in the spirit of the holidays. BUT - they are such numbskulls that they would not even know where Rwanda is, nor would they approve of my other, more political donations. A goat, I think, they would understand. I know that if I 'bought' a goat or whatever, it does not mean that some family *actually* gets a goat on Christmas day. The question is - should I care? Does the money still get earmarked for farming or something useful?

Goat Help?!

Benzle — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:20:17 -0800

Goat Help! My beautiful 5 yr. Boer goat, Mrs. Brownsville is in trouble! It's getting colder and she has been eating more and more grains, (Purina goat feed) less fresh stuff. All day she has been vomiting (A LOT) and just looks horrible, she is warm and has good food and water, but looks a total mess!! Her cheeks are filled with, what ever its called, (cud?) like never before, and shes puffed up like a helium balloon! What does she need from me?

Goat bras: why, exactly?

bookish — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:22:47 -0800

I'm curious about goat bras. I've seen a lot of goats wearing bra-like things (like this), and I'd like to know what, exactly, the function is. Protect the teats during lactation? Keep them from dragging in the dirt? Keep the baby goat from nursing? My animal husbandry experience is pretty limited, but I have faith that somebody on Metafilter has cared for goats.

That Goat Has Devil Eyes!

TheWhiteSkull — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:12:56 -0800

Goat is delicious. What are some other ways to cook it? I enjoy eating goat, but I've mostly had it in various stewed, curried or braised form. Often the cut seems to be mixed pieces of rib or back. Is there such thing as a goat chop? I've seen a couple of recipes for roast leg of goat, but that's more goat than I want to cook. Is there a cut that works well for pan frying or grilling (perhaps with a cumin seed rub of some sort)? Could I find something like this at a halal butcher?

Bonus points for recipes or recipe ideas.

Is it too late to rescue my newly-installed djembe head?

ook — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:00:35 -0800

I just installed a new skin on my djembe, and it doesn't sound very good; I need some troubleshooting and advice on what to do next. Tightened the verticals, shaved the skin, all seemed to go swimmingly -- but now that it's had a day or so to dry, the head rings are noticeably tilted: the top rings are about 1/2" down on one side, and as much as a full inch on the other, and the bottom ring shifted over a bit during the night too (tilted in the same direction as the top). I (perhaps foolishly) decided to try tightening it up anyway and maybe it'd even out as I went -- but as I'm getting it up to playable tension there's a lot of high ringing overtone.

Is the fact that the skin is off-center what's causing those overtones? Or is that just caused by the skin being new or not completely dry or not yet at full tension or something else entirely? (to be clear: the goat spine is still well-centered on the drum head; it's just the rings that are at a slight angle.)

If the tilt is what's causing the overtones, should I:
a) loosen the ropes just enough to try wiggling the rings back level and retighten? (or will the skin have already taken its shape, and not be adjustable at this point?)
b) take the whole thing apart, resoak the skin, and start over from the beginning? (or would that just ruin the skin completely?)
c) write it off as a learning experience and buy another skin?

Spreadsheets that do arbitrary cell tags?

jfuller — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:24:15 -0800

Ignorant spreadsheet question: do most (or any) spreadsheets have the ability to tag cells with an arbitrary name or label and then do operations on only the cells with that tag? I want to write a formula that pulls its data from cells in a range that is not just discontinuous but what you might call shotgun-discontinuous; and to be able to append cells to or remove them from this shotgun-discontinuous range easily. Simple example: say I have a list of purchases for the year, with amounts, arranged sequentially by date from Jan 1 to Dec 30. Some of those purchases were related to, oh, a goat. Whenever I enter a new purchase for goat feed, goat clothing, goat education, goat cosmetics, goat vasectomy, etc. I'd like to tag the amount as "goat" and at the end of the month or year just do =sum(goat). Can I do that?

I'm aware or Excel named cells but it looks as if I can't have more than one cell named "goat" in a given spreadsheet, so that's not the answer. I guess I could also enter the text string "goat" in the cell beside any pertaining-to-goat amount and when write an IF-formula (IF cell next to amount contains string "goat" THEN add amount to running total). But is there a cleaner way to do this? I really do hope to achieve the concision of =sum(goat). Possible? Thanks ever so!

When Good Goat Cheese Goes Bad

melissam — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:31:21 -0800

How long does Chevre keep? I bought some of this local chevre (a soft goat cheese) and ate most of it during the first week, but now that it has been a week I am hesitant to throw it out. It has no indications of spoilage, though it is a little less fluffy. Should I toss it? Will I get sick from eating it?

What is the story about the goat-girl called?

henryis — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:01:34 -0800

where can I find this fairytale? I read it as a kid, it features two girls and a goat, but not like that. I read this story as a kid and have never been able to find it again. Some sort of fairytale about 2 girls, one is pretty blonde and rich, the other has black hair and rides a goat, is disagreeable and bangs pots and pans. At the end the lovely one won't marry her beau unless his friend/brother marries her stepsister/friend. And then of course the crappy sister turns out way better and more beautiful than the blonde. So and ugly duckling theme with goatriding. What is the story called and where can I find it? I have searched for years. I read it sitting behind one of my grandmas matching brown cordoroy chairs, near her mustard built in bookcase, in the early 80's.

What to do with the original packaging?

davehat — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 07:03:19 -0800

What should I do with a goat skin? We had a fantastic party a few months ago and, as is traditional here in Kenya, we provided beer and goat meat for our guests.

Seeing as the goat came in nice furry packaging, we decided to keep it. We stretched it and dried it in the traditional way, but now its just sort of lying out in the laundry looking a bit..

...gunky.

Any ideas what we should/could do with it?