Pygmy (UK goat breed)

The Pygmy is a British breed of dwarf goat. It is small, compact and generally stockily built. It was established in the 1980s by fusion of the various miniature goat populations of the United Kingdom into a single breed. These were of two principal types: a stocky achondroplastic type derived from the West African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa; and a small but well-proportioned type derived from the Southern Sudan goat.[3]: 402 

Pygmy
Billy at Five Sisters Zoo, in West Lothian
Conservation status
Other namesPygmy Goat
Country of originUnited Kingdom
StandardPygmy Goat Club
Traits
Height
  • 43–56 cm[3]: 403 
Horn statusmay be horned in both sexes
Beardmales heavily bearded

History

From the nineteenth century small goats from Africa were brought to the United Kingdom to be exhibited in zoos. Some of these came into the hands of private breeders, who kept and bred them as companion animals.[3]: 402  Among these there were two principal types: a broad, short-legged, compact and solid achondroplastic type, often blue roan in colour, derived from the West African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa; and a small but well-proportioned type derived from the Southern Sudan goat.[3]: 402  Regardless of their actual origins, the former was known as the "Cameroon" and the latter as the "Nigerian".[3]: 402 

In 1982 the varying types were merged into a single breed. A breed society – the Pygmy Goat Club – was formed, and a herd-book started. The breed society is not among those approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to operate a herd-book.[4]

In 2018 a population of 2316 head was reported to the DAD-IS breed database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In 2019 the conservation status of the Pygmy was listed there as "at risk";[2] it was not on the goat watchlist of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.[5]

Use

The Pygmy is reared for show or as a companion animal.[3]: 403 

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pygmy Goat (United Kingdom).
  1. 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. Accessed January 2017.
  2. Breed data sheet: Pygmy / United Kingdom (Goat). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2019.
  3. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  4. Recognised UK breed societies approved or recognised for maintaining or establishing a herd-book for the caprine species. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Accessed December 2019.
  5. Goat watchlist. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Accessed December 2019.
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