National Dairy Goat Awareness Week is an annual observance in the United States to promote

awareness Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some inform ...

dairy goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s. Since 1988, when the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

voted to officially recognize National Dairy Goat Awareness Week, it has been held each year between the second Saturday of June and the third Saturday of June. Local observances during that week include demonstrations of goat milking and hoof trimming, and goat obstacle courses.

Background

Dairy Goat Awareness Day was first observed in 1986.

United States Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...

Richard Edmund Lyng Richard Edmund Lyng (June 29, 1918 – February 1, 2003) was a U.S. administrator. A Republican, he served as the secretary of agriculture between 1986 and 1989. Early life and career Lyng was born on June 29, 1918, in San Francisco, Calif ...

accepted an offering of six baby goats from the

American Dairy Goat Association The American Dairy Goat Association or ADGA is a United States not-for-profit corporation dedicated to goat#Milk, butter, and cheese, dairy goats. Its purpose is to promote the dairy goat industry, by providing and circulating sound information a ...

Legislation

In 1987, North Carolina Senator

Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ...

filed a resolution to set aside a week in June "to educate the American people to the potential of dairy goats and their products." The measure was co-sponsored by Senators

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...

of Kansas and

Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy (; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who is the senior United States senator from Vermont and serves as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

of Vermont. On June 19, President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

issued Proclamation 5669, designating National Dairy Goat Awareness Week. The President praised dairy goats for their link with American history and their ability to thrive in harsh environments. The

passed House Joint Resolution 423 in 1988, calling on the President to issue a proclamation declaring the period beginning the second Saturday of June and ending the third Saturday of June as National Dairy Goat Awareness Week. Reagan issued Proclamation 5834, praising the dairy goat's ability to efficiently convert "a wide variety of vegetation into nutritious milk and meat", and calling on people to observe the holiday with "appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities." In 1990, Governor

James Blanchard James Johnston Blanchard (born August 8, 1942) is an American retired attorney, diplomat, and politician who served as the 45th governor of Michigan from 1983 to 1991. A member of the Democratic Party, Blanchard previously served in the Unite ...

proclaimed Dairy Goat Awareness Week in Michigan, honoring the 200 herds of registered goats in the state and their owners.

References

{{reflist Goats June observances Observances in the United States Dairy farming in the United States 1988 establishments in the United States Awareness weeks