Separating the sheep and the goats?

(originally posted at wycliffe.ca on 2016-04-28)

I'm checking a translation of Genesis 4:2, "Abel watched a flock". The translator put "Abel was a goatherd". In English we'd default to saying "shepherd"; "goatherd" sounds funny to me.

Many languages don't distinguish sheep and goats. Hebrew doesn't seem to, so the original "flock" would be understood as sheep and goats without distinction.

In this target language, however, they do distinguish, so the translator had to choose "shepherd" or "goatherd". His rationale for "goatherd": "Sheep don't need anyone to watch them. You just leave them on the hillside 3/4 of the year and they're fine."

What do you think? Is this a good translation?