Sempione goat

Sempione

Conservation status	FAO (2007): critical[1]
Other names	Simplonziege Simplerziege
Country of origin	Italy Switzerland
Distribution	Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province of Vercelli
Standard	MIPAAF
Use	meat[2]
Traits
Weight	Male: 70 kg[3] Female: 60 kg[3]
Height	Male: 78 cm[3] Female: 72 cm[3]
Wool colour	white or cream
Face colour	white
Horn status	horned in both sexes
Goat Capra aegagrus hircus

The Sempione is a rare breed of domestic goat from the mountains of Piemonte in north-western Italy and the neighbouring area of Simplon in the canton of Valais in Switzerland; Sempione is the Italian name for Simplon. The Sempione goat is well documented in photographs from the early twentieth century,^[3] but is now thought to be close to extinction, and has more than once been considered extinct. Examples were recorded at Saliceto di Cravagliana in the province of Vercelli in 1983, and others have since been identified in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, particularly in the Val Divedro and the upper Ossola.^[4]

Its origins are not clear; it may be related to the Vallesana breed or to the Alpina Comune. Genetic studies to confirm or refute these hypotheses have not been carried out.^[4]

The breed is not recognised in Switzerland; the Swiss ProSpecieRara foundation registered all identifiable members of the breed in Switzerland and in Germany in 2013.^[5] In Italy the Sempione is one of the forty-three autochthonous Italian goat breeds of limited distribution for which a herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the national association of sheep- and goat-breeders.^[6][7] It was listed as critically endangered by the FAO in 2007.^[1] At the end of 2013 the registered population was variously reported as 4^[8] and as 25.^[9]

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 June 2014.
2. Norme tecniche della popolazione caprina "Sempione": standard della razza (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia. Accessed June 2014.
3. Lorenzo Noè, Alessandro Gaviraghi, Andrea D'Angelo, Adriana Bonanno, Adriana Di Trana, Lucia Sepe, Salvatore Claps, Giovanni Annicchiarico, Nicola Bacciu (2005). Le razze caprine d'Italia (in Italian); in: Giuseppe Pulina (2005). L' alimentazione della capra da latte. Bologna: Avenue Media. ISBN 9788886817493. p. 381–435. Archived 5 October 2014.
4. Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. ISBN 9788850652594. p. 396–97.
5. Capra Sempione (in German). ProSpecieRara. Accessed June 2014.
6. 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.
7. Le razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine. p. 110. Accessed June 2014.
8. Consistenze Provinciali della Razza N6 Sempione Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed June 2014.
9. Breed data sheet: Sempione/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2014.