Orobica

Last updated

Orobica
Razza orobica abc5.JPG
Conservation status
  • FAO (2007): not at risk [1] : 67 
  • DAD-IS (2025): at risk/endangered-maintained [2]
Other namesValgerola
Country of originItaly
Distribution
Standard
Usemilk
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    80 kg [3] : 380 
  • Female:
    65 kg [3] : 380 
Height
  • Male:
    79 cm [3] : 380 
  • Female:
    73 cm [3] : 380 
Horn statusbillies always horned, nannies occasionally hornless
  • Goat
  • Capra aegagrus hircus

The Orobica or Valgerola is an Italian breed of domestic goat from the Val Gerola in the province of Sondrio, in the Bergamo Alps of northern Italy. It is raised in the Val Gerola and the Valchiavenna in the province of Sondrio, in the Alto Lario Occidentale, the Valsassina and the Val Varrone in the province of Como, and in the upper Val Brembana in the Province of Bergamo. [2] The origins of the breed are unknown; it is first documented at the beginning of the twentieth century. [3] : 379  The Orobica is one of the eight autochthonous Italian goat breeds for which a genealogical herd-book is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep-breeders. [4] [5]

Contents

At the end of 2013 the registered population was 1109. [6]

Characteristics

The Orobica is of medium size; billies weigh on average 80 kg, nannies about 65 kg; average heights are 79 cm and 73 cm respectively. Both sexes have long twisted horns and erect ears. The coat is of fine lustrous hair; [7] : 401  it is long over the whole body, particularly over the rump and thighs. [3] : 380  Four principal coat colours are recognised: camosch or chamois, dark with mixed red, white and black hairs and darker head; farinel, flour-coloured, varying from uniform ash-grey to violet-beige; marin, with white foreparts and dark hind parts, similar to the colouration of the Peacock Goat of Switzerland; and nigru, black with smoky brown tints. [3] : 380 

The Valgerola

For reasons that were not clear, the Valgerola, while always described as a synonym of the Orobica, was separately reported to DAD-IS in 2014, [8] and was included in the list of goat breeds of limited distribution of the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture. [5] Numbers were reported by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, but no data had ever been entered. [9] There were two official breed standards, one for the "Razza Orobica" [10] and the other for the "Orobica o Valgerola". [11]

References

  1. ↑ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN   9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 Breed data sheet: Orobica o Valgerola / Italy (Goat). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN   9788850652594.
  4. ↑ Le razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine. Archived 21 September 2013.
  5. 1 2 Strutture Zootecniche (Dec. 2009/712/CE - Allegato 2 - Capitolo 2) (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali. Section I (e). Archived 4 May 2014.
  6. ↑ Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 94 Orobica Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Archived 20 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN   9781780647944.
  8. ↑ Breed data sheet: Valgerola/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2014.
  9. ↑ Consistenze Provinciali della Razza N8 Valgerola Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Archived 21 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Razza Orobica: Norme tecniche allegate al Disciplinare del Libro Genealogico della Specie Caprina (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia. Accessed November 2014.
  11. ↑ Norme tecniche della popolazione caprina "Orobica o Valgerola": standard della razza (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia. Archived 14 July 2014.
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