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Girgentana Goat Breed – Everything You Need to Know

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These gorgeous white goats have the most amazing horn shapes as well as a tuft of hair in the middle of their foreheads. These goats have a great temperament, are easy to milk and quite capable of looking out for themselves in the pastures.

Once a breed that was in abundance is now facing a dangerous decline in its numbers and in need of breeders to take an interest in helping to increase their population to save the breed.

Girgentana Goat Quick Profile Overview

The Girgentana goat is really endangered and is a protected by the Italian Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia
Country of Origin: Italy
Other Names: Agrigento
Breed Size: Medium
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Main Purpose: Milk
Can be used for Breeding, Milk, Pets
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Temperament: They are very active and lively. But they are also easy to handle and do not mind human interaction at all!
Good with Kids? Supervised older kids are fine around them
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Ideal Environment: They like more hilly type landscapes with a lot of fresh greenery to graze on
Ideal Climate: All Climates
Conservation Status: Yes Listed by the *ALC
Status They are quite a rare breed
Health Issues? No known health issues
Good Starter Goat? No, they are more for the breeder/farmer who already knows their way around goats
Goat Associations: Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia
Goat Clubs: No known goat clubs
Note: *ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

A pure white goat that both the male and female have beards (the males is a lot longer than that of the females beard) and a fringe tuft on top of their heads.
Color(s): White with bits of brown around either the ears, nose, eyes and knees.
Goat⇒ Doe buck
Breed Weight: 101 lbs. 143 lbs.
Breed Height: 80 cm at withers 80 cm at withers
Hair: Long and silky Long and silky
Ears: Small-medium sized erect ears the same color as their coat Small-medium sized erect ears that are the same color as the buck’s coat
Horns: One of their most beautiful features is their large intricately woven horns.
The female’s horns grow up and spiral upwards they grow to almost 70 cm in length 		The male’s horns are just as beautiful as the females they have the same structure as the females but can get a bit more twisted and although can reach lengths of up to 70 cm’s as well the curl is sometimes not as tall as the females’ horns.
Matures at age: 5 to 15 months 3 to 15 months
Puberty Age: 6 to 12 months 4 to 9 months
Breeding Age: 18 months 1 year
Breeding Traits: 1 Breeding cycle Cover 20 to 30 does in 1 season

DOE BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION

These beautiful goats have only one breeding cycle per year and usually produce a litter of twins
Breeding Period/cycle: Usually lasts 12 to 36 hours
Ave. 21 days/18 to 24 days
Gestation Period: 150 to 155 days
Kids: 1 to 3 per kidding
Good Mothers? Yes, they are very protective caring mothers that will wean their kids
Lactation Period: 258 days or sometimes a bit longer
Milking From: 4 to 6 weeks after kidding
Milk Quality: Excellent, They will produce up to 400 kg of milk per year
Milking Level: Normal, They are not hard to milk with well-placed udders
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GOOD TO KNOW

Some information that may be good to know about the Girgentana Goat Breed
Where to buy them: They are a very endangered species and not readily available to buy especially in the US..
Agility: They are very nimble, quick and agile goats
Interact with other animals: They are sociable and do not mind sharing their space with other livestock or poultry

GENERAL INFORMATION:

The breed was saved from extinction in Italy by Giacomo Gati when he returned home to his native country to find that these goats were no longer in abundance in his village. After a lot of searching and to quite great expense he eventually found one. After establishing himself on is self-built bio-architectural country farm he started his valiant breeding program to save this beautiful breed of goat.

These goats were once used to go from door to door with their owners offering on-doorstep fresh milking. This was in the town where the goats are said to have originated from, Girgenti (the pre-fascist name was Agrigento).

The milk of the Girgentana is said to be so delicious, delectable and highly digestible it is likened to that of mother’s breast milk.

Giacomo Gati started the cheese making business that has put these goats’ cheeses on the map of being a highly sought-after gourmet cheese with a difference.

They were not bred for their meat production and even if they were, they are now endangered species and protected.

HISTORY

The Girgentana was once a breed of goat that was found in abundance. In fact, there was known to be over 30000 heads of this breed in the area from which it came. Sadly, today there are no more than 500 left in Italy.

They originate for the island of Sicily and their name Girgentana is named after the language, Girgenti, which is the spoken language from the area they originate from.
The goat is thought to be a descendant from the Afghani Kashmir and the Capra Falconeri species of goat/antelope.
There is a theory that the Girgentana were brought to the area by the Greek around 700BC!

They have long since been known for their wonderful temperament of being a goat that actually seeks out human interaction, their long silky hair and very productive, nutritious and excellent quality milk.
Then there are their horns that have been referred to as these goats crowning glory giving them a regal air.

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