The What is the history of the Old Irish Goat? Why is the Old Irish Goat facing extinction? Old Irish Goat The Old Irish Goat During the Nineteenth Century Irish goats were epitomises the exported in large numbers to England, from the ¼ impoverished and million strong population. Then, around 1900, the pastoral history of process was reversed and Ireland witnessed its first Ireland. The breed is of importation of improved dairy goats. The idea being the same era as famous to take the Old Irish goat in hand and ‘improve’ it by Irish Neolithic the use of dairy breed stud goats. monuments including Since then the Irish goat has been the subject of a the Céide Fields in chronic spiral of decline driven by changes in county Mayo, agricultural practices, cross breeding with modern Poulnabrone Portal improved goats, casual hunting and indiscriminate Dolman in the Burren and the Megalithic Chamber culls of feral herds. All made worse by a lack of Tomb, Bru na Bóinne in county Meath. recognition, leading to a relentless mongrelisation of the old type towards more nondescript individuals Known historically as ‘the poor man’s cow’, the goat What is an Old Irish Goat? and a declining population. was by virtue of its hardiness a crucial component of The Old Irish Goat is Ireland’s indigenous, landrace Ireland’s past farming and rural life. Indeed, this breed of goat. The term ‘landrace’ refers here to the breed ensured the fact that the breed has been naturally shaped by the survival of Ireland's Irish landscape and climate since its arrival, earliest settlers and approximately 5,000 years ago, in the Neolithic Age. whole village communities and also This has resulted in a highly adapted, cold weather, helped some families small and stocky goat with short, strong legs and a stave of starvation when deep body to accommodate large quantities of potato crops repeatedly nutritionally poor forage. The head, adorned with failed. The Old Irish impressively large horns, is delicately shaped with a Goat is deservedly dished facial profile and long muzzle that serves to celebrated in Irish warm the air before entering the lungs. The ears are folklore, tradition, small in size to protect against frostbite and are worn paintings and literature. in a pricked position. Coats come in a varied range of up to twelve colour patterns that blend with the Does the Old Irish Goat still exist? landscape and are typically long, course, thick and We know that it still exists in feral herds as a rare 'act as a natural thatch' with an under-wool of breed that is facing extinction, although we do not The Old Irish Goat was once a ubiquitous www.oldirishgoatsociety.com cashmere that pushes the hair outwards in Winter. know how many Old Irish Goats still survive. character of the traditional Irish farmstead Is the Old Irish Goat a distinct breed? Why conserve the Old Irish Goat? International Calls for Conservation The 2007, Interlaken Declaration, states that: - “The sustainable use, development and conservation of animal Old Irish Goats are an unimproved landrace breed, The plight of the Old Irish Goat serves as an indicator Calls for conservation began almost a century ago genetic resources for food and agriculture makes an and are therefore very different to the standardized to an acknowledged low priority in the modern when Sir Walter Paget, wrote eloquently of the Old essential contribution to facilitating the implementation of dairy Anglo-Swiss breeds. In comparison with the world attached to rapidly diminishing genetic Irish Goat in 1918: Agenda 21 and the Convention on Biological Diversity.” Old Irish, breeds like the British Saanen, British variability in our food sources. ‘The Irish goat in Toggenburg and British Alpine are huge, a large male In 2009, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the The Irish potato famine, the process of time British Saanen standing 10 inches taller and weighing United Nations, cautioned that: - ‘The flourishing of known as ‘The Great has developed a half as much again as the largest Old Irish male. intensive livestock production systems which utilize a Hunger’, is the event from coat which acts as narrow range of breeds has contributed to the degradation Modern Swiss history that reminds us of a natural thatch in of the animal genetic resources and the marginalization of and British the dangers of this path. A the moist humid the traditional livestock production ones, leading many improved breeds atmosphere of its central factor in this breeds to a risk of disappearance So far, the greatest loss of have a native districts, catastrophe being the genetic resources occurs in Europe with 16 out of the 19 characteristic and to graft wedge shape, reliance on a single plant extinct goat breeds worldwide’. Nubian or Swiss long neck, short variety, the Irish Lumper blood into this coat, are hornless potato, which was It was Dr Ray Werner, a London based historian, who breed does not add and tasselled. susceptible to blight. Based postulated in 2009 that the little known or to its beauty, and, on this history it would be remembered Old Irish Goat still existed and that:- to our mind, By contrast, the Old Irish goat is almost diminutive, fitting for Ireland, to ‘there is a very compelling and urgent need to preserve the impairs its quite square and symmetrical in outline, noticeably preserve those few native breeds of stock left as a Old Irish Goat breed as a genetic and cultural resource. usefulness. The bearded and with an unruly hairy hearthrug look to resilient alternative to modern breeds. The old Irish Goat is the ancient breed of the nation, and Irish goat, we maintain, is the best we have for the purpose, it. Its ears are small and dinky, horns impressively the symbol of its past.’ (Heritage Outlook 2009) large and facial outline dished and quite delicate. Indeed the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the and it should be kept pure in type.’ United Nations advised in 2009 that “Animal genetic Paget’s visionary call was echoed at the 1992 Rio Lastly, the individual dairy breeds are identifiable by resources are among the most valuable and strategically Earth Summit under Agenda 21, Chapter 14, which Is there national protection for the Old Irish Goat? a particular colour, this being a defining feature, important assets a country possesses, they are the animal states that; “Some local animal breeds, in addition to their whereas the Old Irish goat is multi-coloured, with a breeder’s raw material and among the farmer’s most No, while the ancient inanimate tombs of socio-cultural value, have unique attributes for adaptation, herd looking like a moving patchwork quilt. essential inputs.” disease resistance and specific uses and should be Ireland, such as Céide Fields, Poulnabrone, In addition the Old Irish Goat is a unique and preserved. These local breeds are threatened by extinction and Bru na Bóinne are protected under Irish untapped tourism, heritage, artisan food and as a result of the introduction of exotic breeds.” law, our living heritage breeds are not. conservation grazing resource. But most importantly, The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity calls for Neither the Heritage or Wildlife Acts afford the Old Irish Goat is, and still remains, a diminutive conservation under the Precautionary Principle: - “if protection to the Irish Goat, nor is it officially creature, that is resilient and charismatic, that is there is a threat of significant loss of biological diversity, recognised as an Irish rare breed, this is living, breathing history and that is representative of lack of scientific certainty should not be used as a reason our cultural and pastoral heritage. referred to by the Society as ‘the King Puc for postponing measures to avoid or minimise such a Paradox’ . threat”. Ireland’s Lost Breeds Proving the existence of Ireland’s ‘Lost Irish Goat’ Can the Old Irish Goat be saved from extinction? There is no precedent for saving a rare breed from Honouring the Precautionary Principle, the Old Irish feral stock in Ireland or the UK. In attempting to Goat Society, is carrying out a pilot captive breeding prevent the Old Irish Goat becoming another lost program that aims to save vital genetic resources and Irish breed, first the Society has to prove it still exists, assess the challenges of re-domesticating the breed. faced with a complete absence of physical measurements, DNA evidence or even accessible animals, as the surviving Old Irish Goats are dispersed in remote rugged mountain ranges. Even then the society would need to compare against primitive goats from the early 1900’s. To ‘travel back in time’ the society looked to the ‘Dead It is likely that the Old Irish Cow was still to be found Zoos’ of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales and in Ireland during the Middle Ages and we know that their collections of goat bones and skins. These were “What a country chooses to save is what a country individuals cropped up during the Nineteenth DNA profiled and compared to living feral goats chooses to say about itself.” Mollie Beattie 1996 Century. However today it is extinct. from Mulranny in county Mayo. The comparison supported “the idea that the extant feral populations in In 2014 a second DNA study found Old Irish Goats to Mulranny today are a distinct type of goat, seemingly have "distinct variation from other breeds [British unique to Ireland and Britain" (Cassidy et al 2013) Alpine, Toggenburg and Sannen] Quaid et al and The small delicate head of the Old Irish Goat is a crucial feature for survival. Because of its light later in 2015 a third DNA study showed “predominantly distinct clusters” (Flynn et al), when head the new-born goat kid can rise to its feet comparing Old Irish to Icelandic, Finn, and Dutch quickly, lift its head to suckle and is soon mobile landrace goats.