page_title: British Primitive goat
section_title: In the United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: British Primitive goat / In the United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: An image from a set of 8 extra-illustrated volumes of A tour in Wales by Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) that chronicle the three journeys he made through Wales between 1773 and 1776. These volumes are unique because they were compiled for Pennant's own library at Downing. This edition was produced in 1781. The volumes include a number of original drawings by Moses Griffiths, Ingleby and other well known artists of the period. Thomas Pennant (1726-1798)
context_page_description: The British primitive goat is a landrace of domestic goat native to Great Britain and Ireland, and is the original goat of the region. It is considered a rare breed, existing as several, isolated feral herds, as some captive populations in zoological parks and nature reserves, and breeding stock on some private farms operated by groups of rare-breed enthusiasts. As few as 1,200 individual British primitives may remain. The variety is also referred to as the British native goat, the old British goat, the old English goat or the British landrace goat, among more specific names It descends from the earliest goats brought to the region in the Neolithic era, around 3,000 BCE. It is classified in the Northern breed group of goats. A population in Northumbria is sometimes referred to as the Cheviot goat. The British primitive is among the foundation stock of some modern standardised breeds, including the Anglo-Nubian goat. The breed is comparatively small, with commensurately low milk production. It is hardy and wiry haired, adapted to rough terrain and weather, and able to subsist and breed on its own without human intervention.
context_section_description: The primitive variety would have become extinct in the UK had some not escaped or been turned loose to form feral populations.  Due to both displacement by non-indigenous goats and conversion of hilltop grazing land into softwood plantations, these feral herds have long been in decline. By the 1950s, 60 of the 233 known locations of herd no longer supported feral goats. Many were killed off, as plantations of softwood were developed on upland areas that had been hill farms. By the 1990s, the number of herds had diminished even more, as only 45 then survived, with a total population of around 4,000 goats. These numbers have been reduced further by more recent large-scale culls of as many as 1,200 goats at a time.  Some farm groups and zoos have created projects to help preserve a viable population of the British primitive.
  The independent British Feral Goat Research Group estimates that because of introgression (repeated cross-breeding) with modern breeds of foreign stock, perhaps only 1,500 non-mixed British primitive goats remain in Great Britain, making it a rare breed. The group has called for "urgent action ... to protect, preserve and promote what is rapidly becoming a remnant" of what was once the dominant variety of goat in the region. The group says it has been successful in convincing both the Windsor Great Park and Battersea Park Zoo to maintain populations of the British primitive. Another population, in multiple herds, is kept at Galloway Forest Park.
  Today, feral herds exist in Northumberland, Snowdonia, and the Black Mountains, as well as on Lundy Island. There are smaller groups in Somerset and on the Isle of Wight. Scotland has a larger population, most of them deep in the Highlands.
  Despite some conservationist concerns with regard to uncontrolled goat grazing, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds itself maintains a small herd of the goats at Inversnaid, Scotland, and at least three other nature reserves, at Mull of Kintyre, Colonsay, and Grey Mare's Tail have herds as well.
caption: A wild Welsh Goat sketched c.1780
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