What Is The History Of Alpine Goat Breed?

The Alpine Goat breed is also referred to as French Alpine as they are originated from French Alps. In the wild and through the generations the Alpine's incredible agility was developed through natural selection. This agility was homed in order for them to be able to survive on the slopes of the mountains. Alpine is a great milk producer and this is the reason behind their popularity across the world.

The breed of this goat is thought to be a Middle Eastern (or then Persian) breed the Pashang. The Pashang (also known as the Bezoar) is said to be the forefather of most of the European goat breeds found today. The Alpine is one of those goat descendants.

Alpines were shown at the World’s Fair in America in 1904. There are actually many different types of Alpine goats available around the world. The most common types are American Alpine, British Alpine, French Alpine, Rock Alpine, and Swiss Alpine goats.

Nowadays many countries of the world like India, Malaysia, the Philippine, West Indies are raising this milk goat commercially.

What Are The Characteristics Of Alpine Goat Breed?

No distinct color has been established, and it may range from pure white through shades of fawn, gray, brown, black, red, bluff, piebald, or various shadings or combinations of these colors. Both sexes are generally short-haired, but bucks usually have a roach of long hair along the spine. The beard of males is also quite pronounced. The Alpine goats are medium to large-sized animals. Male goats are about 81 cm tall while the females 76 cm at the withers. They have horns and erect ears.

Alpine is very friendly and sociable. This enables them to live peacefully with other flocks on the farm. Alpine goats are hardy animals that thrive in any climate while maintaining good health and excellent production.

They attain maturity at the age of about 4 to 5 months for buck goats while doe kids attain maturity at the age of about 5 to 6 months. Alpine goats give birth to around 2 to 4 per kidding. The gestation period in Alpine goat on an average is 150 days.

French-Alpine females usually have large, well-shaped udders with well-placed teats of desirable shape. They are very popular and famous for their high milk production capability. They produce fresh milk which is very helpful for health. The milk of Alpine goat contains vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K highly. The milk yield ranges from 3 to 4 liters a day with an average of 900 liters in a lactation period of 284 days. Alpine goats milk fat percentage is 3.4%. Their milk has 2.3 g of protein per 250 ml. Milk of the Alpine goat is suitable for making butter, cheese, soap, ice cream, or any other dairy products (which are generally made from the cow’s milk).

What Is The Weight Of Alpine Goat?

The Alpine goat weight of an adult Bucks and Does are 77 kg and 61 kg respectively.

References

1. https://www.roysfarm.com
2. http://afs.okstate.edu
3. https://zepafarm.club
4. https://learnnaturalfarming.com