The History
The first
Toggenburg goats arrived in Britain in 1884 from the Swiss Alps. Since the end
of the 19th century, the purebred stock descended from the original Swiss
goats, has been added to only three times – with live animals imported in 1922
and 1965, and through the importation of frozen semen in the 1990's.
Because
it is originally a mountain breed, the Toggenburg is very hardy and adaptable
to changes in environment and remarkably free of genetic faults, despite being
a pure or ‘closed’ breed.
The early Toggenburg
goats were highly valued. In 1905 it became the first breed to have its own
registration section opened in the British Goat Society’s Herd Book. The first
ever Full Champion male was also a Toggenburg – Ch Copthorne Nimrod in 1908.
