I'm wondering if it would make sense to replace Cattle with Goats, in mountainous regions of my Dwarfen Kingdom. I was thinking about creating a special bigger bread that is similar to an ox. Would it be possible and if what do I need to consider when implementing it? Also if making just transportation mounts or wagon mounts would be fine?
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2$\begingroup$ Hello, Faegir. Welcome to Worldbuilding. Searching Google for "goat beast burden" quickly revealed the wikipedia page for Pack Goats. So the obvious answer is "yes." But why would you breed a goat to the size of an ox? What you'd have is an ox and the mountain abilities of the goat would be lost. $\endgroup$– JBHNov 10, 2020 at 17:00
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1$\begingroup$ Aye, probably right but I would still have an aesthetics of a goat. It's just like they look cooler hehe $\endgroup$– Faegir DariussonNov 12, 2020 at 13:54
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2 Answers
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Yes
Funnily enough, the musk ox is actually more closely related to sheep and goats than cattle. It is essentially what you would get if you scaled them up to that size.
As far as I know, the musk ox has only been domesticated fairly recently and only in small numbers as a source of wool.
If you want to see how a similar creature is used, Look up the domesticated yak. Although the yak is cattle, it fills a similar niche as you're planning. They are used for their milk and fibers as well as pack animals.
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Yes
Working goats seem to be a thing. The page in the link states the following:
A full sized goat can carry 25 to 35% of its body weight, with a maximum load of 50 pounds per goat.
The goats mentioned in the page are smaller than horses, being at the 200 pounds range; if you are able to breed them to be bigger, they can carry more. Notice this is weight on the goat itself, not on a cart. I don't know if a horse or a bull would perform better at carrying weights, but I do know that goats can traverse unlevel, mountainous terrain much better[citation needed]. In that kind of terrain a cart might not be so helpful.
So dwarves might use mules or llamas for roads built upon the mountains, but for the most inaccessible parts goats would better.
answered Nov 10, 2020 at 17:43
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$\begingroup$ Lammas? Lamma can be a beast of burden as well? $\endgroup$ Nov 10, 2020 at 19:06
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2$\begingroup$ @FaegirDariusson The wikipedia article for llamas says "In the Inca Empire, llamas were the only beasts of burden". Using llamas as beasts of burden would make for poncho wearing dwarves that call themselves Los Enanos, which also sounds like a perfect name for a mariachi band :D $\endgroup$ Nov 10, 2020 at 19:08
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$\begingroup$ Ha! Nice idea! Thank ye very much for help mate! $\endgroup$ Nov 10, 2020 at 19:17