Ive quite enjoyed this thread, so I thought I would give my two cents.
1st of all, I believe one of the previous comments had asked about the so called founder of modern Packgoating, the person generally regarded as such is John Mionczynski, the auther of the book "The Pack Goat."
2nd; Several folks have brought up the concerns about the possible transmission of disease from domesticated Pack Goats to wild sheep and goats. Though I do not dismiss the potential risks, and certainly would advocate caution for any Pack Goater who ventures into wild sheep country, I am worried that this issue may get blown out of proportion and ultimately result in excessive restrictions placed on those who choose to hike with Goats in the back country. The above mentioned John Mionczynski talks in his book about the first time he decided to use goats as pack animals. At the time, some 30 plus years ago, he was studying wild sheep deep in the back country as a biologist, for I believe the State of Wyoming if my memory serves. He was required to get very close to the sheep in order to study their behaviors, and all other types of packing or pack animals were inadequate to keep up with the herd. I would expect that there have been multiple encounters of pack goaters and wild sheep/ goats since that time, and still to my knowledge, there are no actually documented cases of trained and well cared for pack goats transmitting a disease to the wildlife. Again, I am not suggesting that the risk is not possible, or that proper caution should not be used, but in reality Pack Goats are a far more environmentally sound choice than virtually any other packable animal in the back country, and I would hate to see an overabundance of caution and unbased fear result in a loss of use of these fine animals.
3rd. I enjoy hunting over my goats. This year I took a nice bull during the Idaho archery hunt with two of my favorite goats by my side. It was a good 20 yard shot, and not only was the bull not frightnened by the goats, he seemed almost intrigued by them. They packed my gear in, they packed the meat out, and I wouldnt hunt with out them.
4th. Predators and the goats; During my preseason scouting, my wife and I had my two hunting goats with us when we were attacked by a medium sized black bear. In all fairness, I think the bear thought my two oberhasli goats were calf elk. The bear came out of nowhere and charged one of my goats. We were of course surprised and my wife screamed for me to do something. I tried the bear spray (which only covered about 10 ft of the advertised 30 that it says it will spray) to no avail, and then the bear circled us for about 5 minutes. He didnt act aggresive to us after the initial charge, and I shot a few times at a stump nearby to scare him away. My wife and I were both surprised at how the goats reacted; they didnt run away in panic, rather they ran right to our side (since they had all our gear, I woulnt have had them go anywhere else) and my wife is certain that had the goat not been between her and the bear, the bear would have been on her before she knew what had happened. What I find is one of the biggest benefits to hiking with the goats is that their keen senses (their eyesight is 7 times that of humans) has alerted me to both near and far dangers, plus alerted me to game that I had missed in my scan. At night in camp, they have woken me up when some unseen potential danger is lurking in the dark. Most of the time its probably a squirl or skunk, but just knowing they are up listening does let me sleep a little better. My horned goats would also be a formidible adversary if something did attack. If you have ever seen a mature wether up close, the horns look like 18 inch curved daggers, ready to disembowel the opposing foe.
I enjoy getting into the back country with my goats, and since getting them, I have been able to get out far more than I used to. If anyone has questions about Pack Goats, I am always happy to chat.