Aussie PM gets the goat

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been given a goat for his 67th birthday today.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd says the goat will go to help people in Sudan as a "gift-in-kind" through an aid organisation.

He says while he was in Sudan recently he was told people needed either goats or donkeys.

"I spent 100 bucks and have delivered to the PM's office last night a letter congratulating the Prime Minister on his 67th birthday, with a gift certificate with a picture of a milking goat," Mr Rudd said.

"That will now head off to a village in the Dafur."