Azpi Gorri

Azpi Gorri

Conservation status	FAO (2007): critical[1]: 107  DAD-IS (2021): at risk[2]
Other names	Azpi-Gorri[3]
Country of origin	Spain
Distribution	Euskal Herria
Use	goat's meat[4]
Traits
Weight	Male: 63 kg[5] Female: 43 kg[5]
Goat Capra aegagrus hircus

The Azpi Gorri is a traditional Basque breed of domestic goat. It originates in the historical Basque Country, and is the only recognised goat breed of that area.[6]: 360 [7]: 171  It is distributed in the northern part of the province of Álava and in southern Bizkaia, with a few herds in the autonomous community of Navarre.[8]

History

The Azpi Gorri is a traditional breed of the Basque Country. By the late twentieth century it had become gravely endangered, with an estimated breeding population of 100.[7]: 173  In 1997 it was added to the Catálogo Oficial de Razas de Ganado de España, the national register of livestock breeds of the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación,[7]: 171 [9] and in 2001 it was included in the official list of Basque breeds of the País Vasco.[7]: 171 [10]

A breed society, the Euskal Herriko Azpi Gorri Elkartea, was formed in 1999; it has kept the herd-book since 2007.[7]: 173 

Also in 2007, the Azpi Gorri was added to the Ark of Taste of the Slow Food Foundation.[7]: 174 [11] The Ark of Taste also lists the Azpi Zuri, a colour variant with white lower parts rather than the characteristic red of the standard breed.[12]

Characteristics

The Azpi Gorri is of medium size. The coat is short and lustrous black with chestnut-red markings on the underbelly, the underside of the tail, the legs and the face[6]: 360  – the Basque words azpi gorri mean approximately "with reddish lower parts".[13] The facial profile is straight, and the ears are held more or less horizontally.[6]: 360  The horns are arched in nannies, more corkscrew-shaped in billies; both sexes occasionally have tassels.[7]: 173 

References

1. Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (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: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed January 2021.
2. Breed data sheet: Azpi Gorri / Spain (Goat). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2021.
3. Azpi Gorri: ganado caprino (in Spanish). Federación Española de Asociaciones de Ganado Selecto. Accessed January 2021.
4. Raza caprina Azpi Gorri: Usos y sistema de explotación (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Accessed January 2021.
5. Raza caprina Azpi Gorri: Datos Morfológicos (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Accessed January 2021.
6. 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.
7. Miguel Fernández Rodríguez, Mariano Gómez Fernández, Juan Vicente Delgado Bermejo, Silvia Adán Belmonte, Miguel Jiménez Cabras (eds.) (2009). Guía de campo de las razas autóctonas españolas (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. ISBN 9788449109461.
8. Raza caprina Azpi Gorri: Datos Generales (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Accessed January 2021.
9. Loyola de Palacio del Valle-Lersundi (7 November 1997). Real Decreto 1682/1997, de 7 de noviembre, por el que se actualiza el Catálogo Oficial de Razas de Ganado de España (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial del Estado 279 (21 November 1997): 34205–34207. Reference: BOE-A-1997-24860. European Legislation Identifier: permalink.
10. Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu (26 December 2001). N°-429: Decreto 373/2001, de 26 de diciembre, sobre razas animales autóctonas vascas y entidades dedicadas a su fomento (in Basque and Spanish). Euskal Herriko Agintaritzaren Aldizkaria/Boletín Oficial del País Vasco 14: 1080–1087.
11. Capra Azpi Gorri: Arca del Gusto (in Italian). Bra, Cuneo: Fondazione Slow Food per la Biodiversità Onlus/Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Archived 26 January 2021.
12. Capra Azpi Zuri: Arca del Gusto (in Italian). Bra, Cuneo: Fondazione Slow Food per la Biodiversità Onlus/Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Archived 26 January 2021.
13. Azpigorri (in Spanish). Berriz, Bizkaia: Euskal Abereak. Archived 26 November 2020.