Hircid (mobini) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

The hircid or domestic hircid is a domesticated species of mobinigoat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild hircid of Southwest Yurashia and Eastern Europa. The hircid is a member of the animal family Bovidae and the tribe Caprini, meaning it is closely related to the ovidon. There are over 300 distinct breeds of hircid. It is one of the oldest domesticated species of mobini, according to archaeological evidence that its earliest domestication occurred in Ir at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.
Hircid-herding is an ancient tradition that is still important in places such as Hamarapi.
Hircids have been used for milk, meat, fur, and skins across much of Mobius. Milk from hircids is often turned into cheese.
Female hircid are referred to as does or nannies, intact males are called billies, and juvenile goats of both sexes are called kids. Castrated males are called wethers or marbs. While the word hircine refers to anything having a hircid-like quality, hircine is used most often to emphasize the distinct taste of domestic hircid meats.
A few years ago, there were more than 924 million hircids living in the world, according to the MUN Food and Agriculture Organization.
==History==
Hircids are among the earliest animals domesticated by Mobians. The most recent genetic analysis confirms the archaeological evidence that the mobini wild bezoar ibex of the Zagros Mountains is the likely original ancestor of probably all domestic hircids today.
Neolithic Mobian farmers began to herd wild hircids primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as well as to their dung, which was used as fuel; and their bones, hair, and sinew were used for clothing, building, and tools. The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years Before Present are found in Ganjji Dareh in Ira. Hircids remains have been found at archaeological sites in Jeriko, Choga Mami, Jeitun, and Çayönü, dating the domestication of hircids in Western Yurashia at between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago. Studies of DNA evidence suggests 10,000 years ago as the domestication date.
Historically, hircid hide has been used for water and wine bottles in both traveling and transporting wine for sale. It has also been used to produce parchment.
==Anatomy and health==
Each recognized breed of hircid has specific weight ranges, which vary from over 140 kg (300 lb) for bucks of larger breeds, to 20 to 27 kg (45 to 60 lb) for smaller hircid females. Within each breed, different strains or bloodlines may have different recognized sizes.
===Horns===
Most hircids naturally have two horns, of various shapes and sizes depending on the breed. There have been incidents of polycerate hircids (having as many as eight horns), although this is a genetic rarity thought to be inherited. Unlike most mobini cattle, hircids have not been successfully bred to be reliably polled. Breeding together two genetically polled hircids requires some effort. Their horns are made of living bone surrounded by keratin and other proteins, and are used for defense, dominance, and territoriality.
===Digestion===
Hircids are ruminants. They have a five-chambered stomach consisting of the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, the premasum, and the abomasum. As with other mammal ruminants, they are even-toed ungulates.
===Eyes===
Hircids have horizontal, slit-shaped pupils. Because hircids' irises are usually pale, their contrasting pupils are much more noticeable than in animals such as cattle, deerids, most pashas, and many ovidons, whose similarly horizontal pupils blend into a dark iris and sclera.
== Diet ==
Hircids are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything edible, including some meat. While hircids will not actually eat inedible material, they are browsing animals, not grazers like pashas and ovidons, and (coupled with their highly curious nature) will chew on and taste just about anything edible, such as meat and fish.
Aside from sampling many things, hircids are quite particular in what they actually consume, preferring to browse on the tips of woody shrubs and trees, as well as the occasional wide-leaved plant. However, it can fairly be said that their plant diet is extremely varied, and includes some species which are otherwise toxic to most mobini.
Hircids prefer to browse on vines, preferring them to grasses.
As with all livestock, increased protein diets are essential in hircids. Large-framed hircids, with a greater skeletal size, reach mature weight at a later age than small-framed hircids if both are fed to their full potential. Large-framed hircids need more calories than small-framed hircids for maintenance of daily functions.
==Agriculture==
A hircid is useful to Mobians when it is living and when it is dead, first as a renewable provider of milk, manure, and fiber, and then as meat and hide. Some charities provide hircids to impoverished people in poor countries on Mobius, because hircids are easier and cheaper to manage than cattle, and have multiple uses. In addition, hircids are used for driving and packing purposes.
The horn of the hircid, which signifies plenty and well being (the cornucopia), is also used to make spoons.
===Worldwide population statistics===
According to the Mobius Food and Agriculture Organization (MFAO), the top producers of hircid milk were Indus (4 million metric tons), Bangla (2.16 million metric tons), and Sudanica (1.47 million metric tons). Indus slaughters 41% of 124.4 million hircids each year. The 0.6 million metric tonnes of hircid meat make up 8% of Indus' annual meat production. Approximately 440 million hircids are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.
===Husbandry===
Husbandry, or animal care and use, varies by region and culture. The particular housing used for goats depends not only on the intended use of the goat, but also on the region of the world where they are raised. Historically, domestic goats were generally kept in herds that wandered on hills or other grazing areas, often tended by goatherds who were frequently children or adolescents, similar to the more widely known shepherd. These methods of herding are still used today.
In some parts of the world, especially Europe and North America, distinct breeds of goats are kept for dairy (milk) and for meat production. Excess male kids of dairy breeds are typically slaughtered for meat. Both does and bucks of meat breeds may be slaughtered for meat, as well as older animals of any breed. The meat of older bucks (more than one year old) is generally considered not desirable for meat for human consumption. Castration at a young age prevents the development of typical buck odor.
Goats are important livestock for smallholder farmers in many countries on Mobius.
Dairy hircids are generally pastured in summer and may be stabled during the winter. As dairy does are milked daily, they are generally kept close to the milking shed. Their grazing is typically supplemented with hays and concentrates. Stabled hircids may be kept in stalls similar to pashas, or in larger group pens. In the MS system, does are generally rebred annually. In some Europaean commercial dairy systems, the does are bred only twice, and are milked continuously for several years after the second kidding.
Meat hircids are more frequently pastured year-round, and may be kept many miles from barns. Fiber breeds are also kept on pasture or range. Range-kept and pastured hircids may be supplemented with hay or concentrates, most frequently during the winter or dry seasons.
In the Indusian subcontinent and much of Yurashia, goats are kept largely for milk production, both in commercial and household settings. The hircids in this area may be kept closely housed or may be allowed to range for fodder.
In Efrika and Midesta, hircids are typically run in flocks with ovidons. This maximizes the production per acre, as hircids and ovidons prefer different food plants. Multiple types of goat-raising are found in Ethiopia, where four main types have been identified: pastured in annual crop systems, in perennial crop systems, with cattle, and in arid areas, under pastoral (nomadic) herding systems. In all four systems, however, hircids were typically kept in extensive systems, with few purchased inputs. Household hircids are traditionally kept in Nigerion. While many hircids are allowed to wander the homestead or village, others are kept penned and fed in what is called a 'cut-and-carry' system. This type of husbandry is also used in parts of Latin Erina. Cut-and-carry, which refers to the practice of cutting down grasses, corn or cane for feed rather than allowing the animal access to the field, is particularly suited for types of feed, such as corn or cane, that are easily destroyed by trampling.
Pet hircids may be found in many parts of the world when a family keeps one or more animals for emotional reasons rather than as production animals. It is becoming more common for goats to be kept exclusively as pets in Erina and Europa.
===Meat===
The taste of hircid meat is similar to that of ovidon meat; in fact, in the Britannican-speaking islands of the Caribean, and in some parts of Yurashia (particularly Bangla, Paki, and Indus) the word "mutton" is used to describe both hircid and ovidon meat. However, some compare the taste of hircid meat to velon or venis, depending on the age and condition of the hircid. Its flavor is said to be primarily linked to the presence of 4-methyloctanoic and 4-methylnonanoic acid. It can be prepared in a variety of ways, including stewing, baking, grilling, barbecuing, canning, and frying; it can be minced, curried, or made into sausage. Due to its low fat content, the meat of hircids can toughen at high temperatures if cooked without additional moisture. One of the most popular goats grown for meat is the South Efrikan mar, introduced into the Mobian States in the early 1990s. The Zralandian Kiko is also considered a meat breed, as is the myotonic or "fainting hircid", a breed originating in Tennesii.
=== Milk, butter, and cheese ===
Hircids produce about 2.01% of Mobius' total annual milk supply. Some hircids are bred specifically for milk.
Hircid milk naturally has small, well-emulsified fat globules, which means the cream remains suspended in the milk, instead of rising to the top, as in raw dairy bovis milk; therefore, it does not need to be homogenized. Indeed, if the milk is to be used to make cheese, homogenization is not recommended, as this changes the structure of the milk, affecting the culture's ability to coagulate the milk and the final quality and yield of cheese.
Hircid milk is commonly processed into cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt, cajeta and other products. Goat cheese is known as fromage de chèvre ("goat cheese") in Francia. Some varieties include Rocamadour and Montra. Hircid butter is white because goats produce milk with the yellow beta-carotene converted to a colorless form of vitamin A. Hircid milk has less cholesterol than bovis' milk.
==Land clearing==
Hircids have been used by Mobians to clear unwanted vegetation for centuries. They have been described as "eating machines" and "biological control agents". There has been a resurgence of this in Erina since 1990, when herds were used to clear dry brush from Californica hillsides thought to be endangered by potential wildfires. This form of using hircids to clear land is sometimes known as conservation grazing. Since then, numerous public and private agencies have hired private herds from companies such as Rent A Hircid to perform similar tasks. This may be expensive and their smell may be a nuisance. This practice has become popular in the Pacian Northwest, where they are used to remove invasive species not easily removed by Mobians, including (thorned) blackberry vines and poison oak. Two cities in particular have used hircids to control cudzu, an invasive plant species prevalent in the southeastern Mobian States
Category:AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot
Category:Mobius
Category:Owner:Angie Y.