Roe goat

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Blond rove buck in the original habitat in Provence

The rove goat is a French breed of domestic goat , which is specially adapted to the environmental conditions and the Mediterranean climate of Provence through natural selection .

Origin and Distribution

Statue of a goat in front of the Rove village hall ( Bouches-du-Rhône , France)

The roe goat has been recorded in southern France since the 19th century . The main area of ​​distribution is around the mountain village of Le Rove near Marseille. From there, the breed has spread more and more in the Alpine region of Provence and also in the lowlands.

Nothing is known about the goat's origin. Two theories aim to explain their ancestry and presence in Basse-Provence . According to this, the ancestors of the goat come from Mesopotamia , Anatolia and Greece and are said to have been imported by the Phoenicians . One theory says that one of their ships sank near the coast and a large number of the loaded goats rescued themselves by swimming to the shore. According to a second thesis, they were acquired by barter from the Phoenicians in the port of Marseille .

The goats were the shepherds to their flocks integrated and developed by natural selection in the hills of Rove, after they are notified to optimally to the scrubland of Provence adapted Landrace . In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur today focus more than 60 percent of the goat population and about half of the breeders of this breed. 90 percent of the goat farms are in the south-east of France.

Outside of France, the breed is not widespread. In Germany in 2011 only eight animals were listed in the herd books of the state associations.

features

Herd in Rove with goats in all typical colors

A typical triangular head with pronounced cheekbones characterize the Rove goat as well as the imposing horns. The horns rise high on the head and are laid out in a spiral. The French attribute a span of 120 cm to the horn of a goat. Others even 150 cm. A single horn can be up to 90 cm long; that of the goats only 30 cm. The long, wide ears that are laid forward are also typical.

The physique is strong and well muscled. A deep chest and wide flanks are part of the massive trunk. The hips are not sloping. The height at the withers of the buck is between 75 and 90 cm, that of the goat between 70 and 80 cm. The weight of the bucks can vary between 80 and 90 kg, for the goat between 50 and 60 kg. The color of the fur is predominantly red-brown, but black, piebald, gray and blonde animals can also occur, but never gems-colored or white.

The milk yield of the roe goat is between 250 kg and 500 kg, depending on how it is kept. The milk itself has a high fat and protein content and is particularly suitable for cheese production. The meat yield of the goat is 50 percent.

Use and endangerment

Gray Rove buck with bell (right)
Various Rove goat cheeses from Le Rove
Herd of Rove goats in the scrub above the village of Rove

The roe goat is a robust and very undemanding goat that is suitable for extensive husbandry. It is one of the dual purpose races and serves as a meat and milk supplier .

From the Middle Ages to the 1950s, shepherds used castrated billy goats, the ménons , as guides for their merino sheep herds during transhumance on the annual migration to the Sommeralm. As sure-footed herd animals, they preceded the flock of sheep. They wore strong bells that served as acoustic signposts when driving up and down the Alps. The roe goat is said to have a pronounced ability to orient itself. She can already remember paths that have already been taken. Even in extreme sun or storms, she leads her herd safely.

The shepherds also always brought some goats with them in the flocks. They ate the plants that the sheep left standing. They were used as wet nurses in the rearing of orphaned or twin lambs of the sheep and served to improve the feeding of the shepherds . They made cheese from the goat's milk, such as Brousse du Rove , or Le Brousse for short , which is now marketed as a regional specialty. Rove goat's milk is also used to produce the AOC- protected cheeses Pélardon , Picodon and Banon . The kid meat is also considered a delicacy.

In 1960 there were still 18,000 roe goats in the country. With the decline in sheep and goat husbandry and the change from one of the Alpine regions to a residential region, the goat population fell rapidly to only 500 individuals within two decades. In 1979 the Association de défense de la chèvre du Rove ( German Association for the Conservation of the Rove Goat) was founded with the help of the Camargue Regional Nature Park . Their work resulted in this unique breed of goat being preserved in the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var regions . In 2004 the number of goats reached around 5000. 142 goat breeders had specialized in the roe goat. 53 percent of these farms produced cheese. By 2007 the population grew to 5500 individuals.

Today the goat is also indispensable in landscape maintenance and is used specifically to protect against forest and wild fires, among other things. By biting young trees, it keeps the pastures open and the hard-to-reach mountain slopes clean, making them less susceptible to summer fires.

See also

literature

  • Michael v. Lüttwitz: Robust and unknown: Rove goats. In: Poultry Exchange. 12/2000.
  • Annette Zerpner: Fancy goats . They complain a lot, but the cheese tastes good: the Chèvre du Rove is the traditional farm animal of Basse Provence. Now tourists can hike with her. In: The time . October 4, 2012 ( zeit.de ).
  • Federal Association of German Goat Breeders V. (Ed.): Goat breeding in the Federal Republic of Germany . Breed and breeding goal descriptions. February 20, 2011, Roveziege (RVZ), p. 22 ( ziegenzucht.de [PDF; 3.7 MB ]).

Web links

Commons : Rove Goat  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The spelling Rove Ziege, which is also often used for this breed, is orthographically incorrect .
  2. ↑ a b La chèvre du Rove. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 2, 2011 ; Retrieved March 7, 2011 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lerove.fr
  3. ↑ a b La chèvre du Rove. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 1, 2012 ; Retrieved March 5, 2011 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; The Rove goat. (PDF; 322 kB) (No longer available online.) In: capgenes.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015 ; accessed on April 16, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.capgenes.com  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.capgenes.com
  4. ↑ Breed description goat: Rove goat. In: Central Documentation of Animal Genetic Resources in Germany (TGRDEU). Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food , accessed on April 15, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Rove goat. In: Tierportrait - Tierlexikon (tierportraet.ch). MediaTime, accessed April 24, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Rove goat. In: Ziegenlexikon (ziegenlexikon.de). Kai Hagemeister, accessed April 24, 2013 .
  7. ↑ a b Michael v. Lüttwitz: Robust and unknown: Rove goats. In: Poultry Exchange. 12/2000.
  8. ↑ a b The breed portrait: The Rove goat. Diverse initiative for the conservation of old and endangered domestic animal breeds, accessed on April 16, 2013 (identical information to the BDZ brochure).
  9. ↑ a b Federal Association of German Goat Breeders e. V. (Ed.): Goat breeding in the Federal Republic of Germany . Breed and breeding goal descriptions. February 20, 2011, Roveziege (RVZ), p. 22 ( ziegenzucht.de [PDF; 3.7 MB ; accessed on April 16, 2013]). or: Roveziege (RVZ). (No longer available online.) State Association of Lower Saxony Goat Breeders, 2009, archived from the original on November 5, 2012 ; accessed on April 16, 2013 (identical information to the BDZ brochure). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ziegenzucht-nds.de
  10. ↑ Annette Zerpner: Bock on goats . They complain a lot, but the cheese tastes good: the Chèvre du Rove is the traditional farm animal of Basse Provence. Now tourists can hike with her. In: The time . October 4, 2012 ( zeit.de [accessed April 15, 2013]).