The Anglo-Nubian is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

domestic goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bo ...

. It originated in the nineteenth century from

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

between native British goats and a mixed population of large lop-eared goats imported from India, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. It is characterised by large, pendulous ears and a convex profile. It has been exported to many parts of the world, and is found in more than sixty countries. In many of them it is known simply as the Nubian.

History

The Anglo-Nubian breed originated in the British Isles in the nineteenth century from

between traditional native prick-eared British goats and a mixed population of large lop-eared goats imported from India, the

and

. Many of these were brought to British shores by steamers of the P & O Steamship Company, which routinely loaded goats on board before starting a homeward voyage from the Orient, so as to have milk and fresh meat available during the voyage. Some of these goats were commonly off-loaded and sold when the ships docked; regardless of their actual place or port of origin, they were often referred to as "Nubians" in the later nineteenth century. Among them were examples of the Egyptian Zaraibi, which significantly influenced the development of the Anglo-Nubian. Three billies were particularly influential on the breed: an Indian

Jamnapari Jamnapari, Jamunapari or Jumnapari is an Indian breed of domestic goat originating in Uttar Pradesh. It has been exported to Indonesia, where it is known as the Etawah. It is bred for both Goat's milk, milk and goat's meat, meat. The name is der ...

imported in 1896; another Indian goat, this from

Chitral Chitral () is a city situated on the Kunar River, Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before ...

; and a Zaraibi imported at about the same time. The first registrations in the

herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders wh ...

were in 1910, and no further use was made of imported breeding stock thereafter. Some were exported to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in the early twentieth century, and from there some entered the United States, where the first arrivals were in 1909. Others were exported to Brazil. In 2017 the Anglo-Nubian was reported under various names from more than sixty countries of the world. Its

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

at world level was listed by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

as "not at risk" in 2007, and was reported to

DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym for the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, a tool developed and maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a part of its programme for management of animal genetic resources for ...

as "not at risk" in 2020. In the United Kingdom its status in 2020 was "endangered"; it was not among the goat breeds on the goat watchlist of the

Rare Breeds Survival Trust The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is a conservation (ethic), conservation charity whose purpose is to secure the continued existence and viability of the native farm animal genetic resources (FAnGR) of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1973 b ...

Characteristics

The Anglo-Nubian is a large goat, characterised by long legs, a markedly convex facial profile, and long pendulous lop ears. The head is carried high; it may either be polled or have small downward-curved horns. In nannies the coat is short and smooth, in billies it is somewhat rougher and longer. The coat may be of any of a wide range of colours, either solid or in various brindled, marbled or mottled patterns; among the most frequent are white, cream, fawn, chestnut and black.

Use

The Anglo-Nubian is a dual-purpose goat, reared both for

goat's meat Goat meat is the meat of the domestic goat (''Capra hircus''). The term 'goat meat' denotes meat of older animals, while meat from young goats is called 'kid meat'. In South Asian cuisine, goat meat is called mutton, along with sheep meat.''Oxf ...

and for

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

. Kids fatten quickly for meat production. The milk yield is not as high as in some Swiss goat breeds, but the milk has a higher percentage of

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

. Nannies give approximately of milk per day, with an average fat content of about 4.8%. The highest recorded 24-hour yield is some , while the highest authenticated annual yield is over .

References

Dairy goat breeds Goat breeds originating in the United Kingdom {{bots, deny=Citation bot