Goats in Middle Earth
Apparently it was world goat day on the 21st which I completely missed but in honor of that here are some Middle Earth related goat thoughts! I focused primarily on Beleriand but please let me know if you'd like a post on later Middle Earth goat related world building specifically!
There are also mentions of goats on several of my mammals of Beleriand posts where I go into more detail about their status as domestic animals!
Several species of wild goats live in Beleriand, primarily in montane regions and domesticated goats, variants of two of the wild species, are kept by elves, humans, and dwarves throughout Middle Earth.
Caprus aegagrus, the wild species closest to the later domestic goat, is found mostly east of the Ered Luin in montane regions where it's primarily kept by humans and some dwarven populations.
Ibexes are found in the mountains in the south of Dorthonion and into the Ered Gorgoroth though these are rarely observed by humans or elves.
Tur, a subgenus of wild goats, are found in the Ered Luin and in montane regions in the south of Middle Earth
In Beleriand, the Noldor elves and the dwarves of the eastern regions own the highest numbers of goats.
Goats milk is the most common source for milk and cheese in Himlad, Thargelion and Estolad.
A popular dish in Himlad includes Goats milk cheese prepared with woolly hedgenettle (lamb's ear) herbs.
The Sindar of Hithlum, the Haladin, and the Drúedain of central Beleriand also keep them in smaller numbers. They’re used for wool, meet and occasionally milk.
Obligatory mention of this but it's an old headcanon of mine that Aerin had a goat as a child named Wilwandrëa which means like a butterfly. The goat got its name from its black splotches that reminded Aerin of a common species found in meadows in Dor-lómin (likely marbled white). The Hadorians don’t typically raise goats but the Drúedain do and some of their people pass through Dor-lómin not infrequently. @rana-temporaria made me adorable art of this here :)
The Drúedain make imprints of various hooves including those of the goats they keep on the cave walls of central Beleriand, near Dimbar.
