" I bet they brought a lot of these goats with them. "
They sure did …(bring some goats with them)
What other livestock animal could be more versatile for human use and survival? For thousands of years the people in Africa and the Middle-East used the goat as a Wealth symbol. The more goats you owned … the wealthier the man (or the household) was.
You could use just about everything the goat would provide: milk/cheese, meat, hide, workforce, etc. …and you could sell them (for cash/gold/silver) or trade them for other goods, just like currency.
Also, the meat and the milk/cheese product, was and still is Kosher for Jews and Halal for Muslims as religious requirement, thus permissible for consumption.
Heck, there were situations where ‘men’ used them to ‘buy’ there wives from their parents in exchange for goats…..and/or in other circumstances as part of the matrimonial deal and arrangements, the groom would receive a certain number of goats as part of the bride’s dowry.
In some parts of the world, even today the goat is looked upon as = currency = wealth.
The goat was so much part of their life –from a practical aspect- that it also became part of their culture and folklore. When you see ancient depiction of goats in the field,… might be wealth related symbol and not something spooky