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Pygmy (UK goat breed)
British breed of goat From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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
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History
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Small goats were brought from Africa to the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century to be exhibited in zoos.[4]: 182 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,[3]: 403 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.[5]
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.[6]
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Use
The Pygmy is reared for show or as a companion animal.[3]: 403
References
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