History:
The British Alpine Goat originates in Great Britain. It was created by crossing local goats with Alpine goats imported from Switzerland.
Used in crossings with Saanen and Toggenburg in England and France, it has given rise to the British Alpine and French Alpine breeds.
In Spain the first herd appears at the end of the 70’s, coming from the neighboring country.
Throughout the decade of the 80, it is distributed practically in purity by the north of the Autonomous Community of Castile where it crosses with autochthonous races.
In the 90 extends from the northwest of Leon by the north of Zamora until Salamanca, in turn, a few herds are established in Catalonia.
Characteristics of British Alpine Goat:
The British Alpine Goat dairy breeds originally from the Alps. Polychromatic animals, short, thin, smooth and shiny.
Body elongated and fleshless. Thin triangular head on the muzzle. Horns of medium length and in the form of a lyre. Front and profile slightly concave. Horn’s ears long and thin neck. Fine, long, strong and straight. Voluminous udders, globose at birth, well placed with a broad base and soft, thin and elastic skin. Nipples long and well placed. Nervous temperament.
The Alpine is a goat of height and average size. The live weight of the females ranges between 60 and 80 kilos and males between 80 and 100 kilos.
It is rustic and it is adapted to the breeding in permanent stables like the grazing, or to the life in the mountain. It is exploited mostly in intensive and its main product is the milk that is mostly intended for cheese making.
Other abilities of this breed are the production of skins and the production of meat of suckling goats.
Alpine goat is a large dairy, enjoys a high adaptation to mechanical milking. Its well-shaped udder, with nipples of variable length, releases the milk with great ease in one go.
The kid’s goat weighs at birth 4-5 kg female and male respectively. It takes a month to reach 9.5 kg which is ideal for marketing. The majority of the farms carry out the rearing of the kids through artificial feeding.
The puberty of the males is evident at 120 days and in females at 150 days. The mean age at first calving is 450days and in Spanish herds of 410 days. The interval between births is 365 days.
The goats of this breed stand out for their pronounced seasonality with a duration of the 210day sex season.
Food:
The British Alpine Goat eats flowers, herbs, shrubs, foliage.
Usage:
The British Alpine Goat use it because of it multi-purpose breed, they raise it by the production of meat, the production of their milk since it obtains good cheeses and butter, and by the production of wool, they have excellent black and shiny Coat.
Special Characteristics:
Currently, the census of 25,400 specimens, belonging to 68 farms, is distributed in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and Leon, Galicia and the Basque Country.
Goat Profile:
| Goat name | British Alpine Goat |
| Other Name | Any |
| Goat Purpose | Meat and milk |
| Coat color | Black, with white spots in some areas |
| Weight | 60 to 100 Kg |
| Climate Tolerance | All climates |
| Country of Origin | Great Britain |
