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A goatherd (/ˈgoʊtˌhɜrd/) or a goatherder is a person who herds goats for a living. Similar to a shepherd who tends sheep for a living, the drover here herds goats. Goatherds are popular in countries where goat populations are natively high; for instance, in Africa and South Asia. Herding a goat is much more difficult than herding sheep as, unlike sheep, goats do not have a herding instinct and each goat will tend to stray farther in search of better foliage and grass. It is for this reason that, in these areas, goats are costlier than sheep.
Fictional goatherds include Peter from Johanna Spyri's Heidi, and the song from "The Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music.
The word capriculturist, which is derived from Latin, began to appear with more frequency in the late 1940s.
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