Recovery of the race
Since the year 2008, the Slow Food Terres de Lleida Association develops the CULTURES MEETED initiative to conserve and disseminate the ancient breeds and varieties of Ponent . In the year 2009, the Catalan goat prospecting tasks carried out by Santiago Álvarez came together with this project with the aim of guaranteeing the survival of the last purebred herd located.
It was a generationless exploitation that had shrunk from 700 animals a 50 in a few years. The herd was for sale and was considerably aged, which foreshadowed its dissolution in herds of other breeds., at best. First, It was attempted to be acquired by some of the farmers near Montsec, however, the impossibility of materializing this option and the skepticism discovered in different areas, decided to register a livestock farm and design a breed conservation program.
Like this, at the beginning of 2011, is van instal·to place the animals in a corral in order to start the initial phase of controlled breeding. This phase, which will last for two years, includes the study of the breed and its dairy aptitudes, meat and pasture and has the support of the Fundación Biodiversidad provided by the 50% of its cost. The rest will have to be covered by the association through sponsorships and the animal sponsorship campaign launched last April11.
Once the initial multiplication phase is over, the ultimate goal is the gradual reintroduction into the area’s extensive livestock and the revision of the associated food tradition. All in all, to link with a past in which whole flocks of crests of this breed, they crossed Catalonia to supply meat to much of Barcelona while, above, by depopulating the kids, goats were milked to make sliced cheeses with herbacol.WAI_LIAN_CONTENT_1