The Altai Mountain goat is a breed of domestic

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically 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 a ...

bred for wool production. The breed was developed during the years from 1944 to 1982 in the

Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Gorno-Altai Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (russian: Горно-Алтайская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республик) was an autonomous republic within the Russian Socialist Fed ...

region of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, by cross-breeding the

Don goat The Don goat breed from the Don River of the Lower Volga territory in Russia is used for the production of wool, goatskin, and milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutri ...

with local goats for a high wool yield.

Appearance

Females (nanny goats) weigh 41 to 44kg (90 to 97lb) while males (billy goats) weigh 65 to 70kg (143 to 155lb). Altai Mountain goats are black in color at a young age, and change to dark brown or grey as they mature. A distinctive feature of the Altai Mountain goat is the length and volume of the wool they grow, which is three to four times more than the local goats of the region.

Origin

The breed was first introduced in the

Altai Republic The Altai Republic (; russian: Респу́блика Алта́й, Respublika Altay, ; Altai: , ''Altay Respublika''), also known as Gorno-Altai Republic, and colloquially, and primarily referred to in Russian to distinguish from the neighbour ...

region of the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

. The breed was slowly developed between 1944 and 1982 by cross-breeding the

with goats local to the region. The goal of developing the breed was to create a goat with a high wool production that could withstand the severe weather conditions of the harsh winters in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Reproduction and care

The Altai Mountain goat was originally bred to increase the amount of wool available per goat. During the project's peak, the population grew almost 30 percent in a year. They are currently bred to increase the population. Due to their selective breeding for climate tolerance, Altai Mountain goats can be kept on

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

year-round.

South African project

In 1997, approximately 500 Altai Mountain goats were released in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

by Sentrachem, a South African agricultural chemical company. As a result, owning goat flocks became more profitable by producing a breed that had a high yield of both meat and cashmere. This helped spur agricultural production in South Africa and bolster the fiber and

Cashmere wool Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from cashmere goats, pashmina goats, and some other breeds of goat. It has been used to make yarn, textiles and clothing for hundreds of years. Cashmere is closely associate ...

industry. When cross-bred with the indigenous goats, the goats are expected to have a higher meat and cashmere yield (around 600g of brown cashmere), increasing profitability of goat herds.

Appearance

Origin

Reproduction and care

South African project

See also

Further reading

References