The Aurunci Goat: beautiful and productive

Although pastoralists’ assessment of an animal’s mammary glands is mainly based on utilitarian considerations, on the other hand it is also linked to aesthetic parameters. Therefore, a beautiful goat is considered as such, also with reference to the totality of its morphological characteristics, including its udders. No pastoralist would select a goat without taking first into account the shape and capacity of its mammary glands. Two types of udders (auvrine) are usually identified: the tunna (rounded, firmly joined, and well positioned in relation to the abdomen) and spaccata (split), usually divided into two and with a more elongated shape. The prototype of the ideal mammary glands is the one referred to by pastoralists as «zezze gruósse e auvrina tunna» («large nipples and round udders»). The shape, position and length of nipples (ideally of a medium-long size) serves to determine two other major criteria of choice: «bóna da mógne» («good to milk») and «mala da mógne» («difficult to milk»). 

Generally, the udders’ shape of uplands goats from Aurunci and Ciociaria is the direct outcome of their adaptation to a rocky and shrubby environment. Indeed, dense shrubs and thorny climbers (Smilax aspera) do not facilitate the movement of livestock, especially for animals of a small height, such as goats, whose breasts can easily scratch on stones and shrubs. Therefore, pastoralists have wisely selected animals with round and sufficiently firm udders, capable of remaining high enough from the ground, so as to limit the consequences of scratches that could cause haemorrhages and infections. Thus, what goats have established with their territory is a relationship of coevolution, which has become vital through pastoralists’ cultural mediation.