Appenzell goat

Appenzell
a hornles goat with a long white coat
Conservation status FAO (2007): endangered-maintained[1]
Other names
Country of origin Switzerland
Distribution
Use
  • milk
  • vegetation management[2]
Traits
Weight Male: 65 kg[2]
  Female: 45 kg[2]
Height Male: 80 cm[2]
  Female: 75 cm[2]
Wool color white
Face color white
Horn status usually hornless
Goat
Capra aegagrus hircus

The Appenzell, French: Chèvre d’Appenzell, German: Appenzellerziege,[2] is a rare and endangered indigenous breed of long-haired white domestic goat from Switzerland. It originates in the "half-cantons" of the historic Appenzell region, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden, and has spread into the neighbouring Canton of St. Gallen.[3]

History

Documentation of the Appenzell breed goes back more than 100 years. A goat-breeders' association, the Ziegenzuchtgenossenschaft Appenzell, was founded in Innerrhoden in February 1902, and another, the Ziegenzuchtgenossenschaft Urnäsch, in Ausserrhoden in 1914. The Schweizerischer Ziegenzuchtverband, the Swiss federation of cantonal goat breeders' associations, runs a conservation and recovery project for the Appenzell which includes financial support for breeders and a controlled breeding programme.[4] In 2007 conservation status of the breed was listed by the FAO as "endangered-maintained".[1]

In 2005 the Appenzell breed represented about 4.2% of the total registered Swiss goat population of about 70,000 head.[3] At the end of 2013 a population of 1900–2000 was reported to DAD-IS.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. p. 112. Accessed June 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Breed data sheet: Appenzellerziege/Switzerland. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2014.
  3. 1 2 Tableaux des races: Races caprines suisses – races menacées (in French). Schweizerischer Ziegenzuchtverband. Accessed June 2014.
  4. Hans-Peter Grunenfelder (ed.) (2003). Agricultural Genetic Resources in the Alps. St. Gallen: Monitoring Institute for Rare Breeds and Seeds in Europe. Accessed June 2014.


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