The Anglo-Nubian is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of 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 several slig ...

of domestic goat. It originated in the nineteenth century from cross-breeding between native British goats and a mixed population of large lop-eared goats imported from India, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. 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 cross-breeding 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 P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) is a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World c ...

, 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 or Jamunapari is an Indian breed of domestic goat originating in Uttar Pradesh. It has exported to Indonesia, where it is known as the Etawah. It is bred for both milk and meat. The name is derived from the Yamuna river. History Th ...

imported in 1896; another Indian goat, this from

Chitral Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...

; and a Zaraibi imported at about the same time. The first registrations in the herd-book 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 a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

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 as "not at risk" in 2007, and was reported to DAD-IS 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 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 by Joe Henson to prese ...

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. It 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 or goat's meat is the meat of the domestic goat ''(Capra aegagrus hircus)''. The common name for goat meat is simply "goat", while that from young goats can be called ''capretto'' (It.), ''cabrito'' (Sp. and Por.) or ''kid''. In South ...

and for

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

. 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 spec ...

. 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

{{British livestock, R.3 Dairy goat breeds Goat breeds originating in England