Girgentane Goats

​This breed is named after the town of Girgenti (modern-day Agrigento). Its long, spiraling horns, reaching up to 70 centimeters on the males, make it unmistakable. With its horns and white coat, it resembles wild Asian goats, and its origins, according to some, can be traced back to the goats of Tibet.

Zoologists believe their ancestor could be Markhor from Central Asia because they share a unique characteristic: the spiral horn. However, the Markhor’s horn twists opposite that of the Girgentana and other domestic goats with twisted horns, such as the ibex. So, there’s a chance that the twisted horns’ origin is a product of gradual selection within some Asian herds or, based on herder’s preferences or beliefs, that twisted spiral horns provide some benefits.
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It is believed that the breed, of Asian origin, was probably brought to Sicily by Greek colonists (The Spartans), around 750 BCE. 

The Greek temples, symbols of the city of Agrigento for centuries, are universally recognised as the most fascinating and majestic testimony that Magna Graecia bequeathed to Sicily and the whole of Italy.

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From these settlements, they spread around the island, travelling with their animals, and the goats became established in the southwest of Sicily and into Calabria. Their milk is renowned for its excellent balance between fat and protein.

These goats were once used to go from  with their owners.  Girgentana goats enjoyed glorious days in the 1920-30s when 1920s and ’30s, farmers would sell milk by going from door to door with their flocks of Girgentana goats, offering on-doorstep milking  and supplying fresh milk on the spot. Girgentana milk has a mild flavour, primarily given to infants and elderly people.

But this tradition was abolished by new laws in the thirties that prohibited urban goat farming due to sanitary reasons.
As a result, goat-keeping’s image turned negative, and it was pushed out from urban areas to hills and coastlines.

These hygiene regulations and the spread of heat-treated milk led to a steep decline in the breed’s numbers. In the past more than 30,000 head in the hills and coastal zones. At the end of 1993 the population was estimated at 524. The conservation status of the breed was listed as "endangered" by the FAO in 2007. At the end of 2013 the registered population was 390. Today, however, this breed is still in danger of disappearance.

Saving the Breed

​The breed was saved from extinction in Italy by Giacomo Gati when he returned home to his native country to find that these goats were no longer in abundance in his village. After a lot of searching and great expense he eventually found some. After establishing himself on is self-built bio-architectural country farm he started his valiant breeding program to save this beautiful breed of goat.

Our future plans

For years we have been asked if we make cheese and although we have in the past made it for our own consumption we have never made it to sell.

This is an ongoing ambition which we are getting closer to achieving with the launch of our new bistro (Agriturismo), where we hope to gain authorisation to make cheese very soon! 

Halloumi, one of the cheeses we hope to start making in the near future...

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Fun Goat Facts

• Goat meat is the most consumed meat per capita worldwide
• Goats can be taught their name and to come when called
• The life span of a goat is about that of a dog
• Goats have a gestation period (pregnancy) of five month and the average birth rate for goats is 2.2 kids per year.
• Baby goats (kids) are standing and taking their first steps within minutes of being born.
• Each kid has a unique call, and along with its scent, that is how its mother recognizes it from birth – not by sight.
• Counter to the dominant stereotype about goats being willing to eat anything, they are actually very picky eaters. They have very sensitive lips, which they use to “mouth” things in search of clean and tasty food. They will often refuse to eat hay that has been walked on or lying around loose for a day.
• Goats are herd animals and will become depressed if kept without any goat companions. So, it is unhealthy for a goat if a family just owns one as a pet.
• Goats, being mountain animals, are very good at climbing; they’ve been known to climb to the tops of trees, or even dams!
• Goats’ pupils (like many hooved animals) are rectangular. This gives them vision for 320 to 340 degrees (compared to humans with 160-210) around them without having to move and they are thought to have excellent night vision.
• Goats are foragers, NOT grazers. It is actually unnatural to graze a goat on grass and increases the likelihood of them picking up harmful parasites. In their natural habitat, they roam mountaintops and reach up as high as possible to pick out choice bits of forage around them.
• Goats have four “stomachs.” Their food moves first into the rumen (from which it is periodically regurgitated for more “cud chewing”), then to the reticulum, later to the omasum, and finally to the abomasum (which is most like a more sensitive human stomach).
• Goats are burpers! This is due to the role of their rumen. The rumen, which in a mature goat holds four to five gallons of plant material, breaks down cellulose and acts as a fermentation vat. Of course, fermentation produces gas, and this gas escapes in the form of loud, healthy burps. Our goats can frequently be heard burping in the barn.