The Capestrina is an Italian breed of domestic goat from the southern part of Lazio, in southern central Italy. It is one of three breeds of goat in the area, the others being the Bianca Monticellana and the Ciociara Grigia, but is usually found on higher and less accessible terrain than those breeds.
History
The Capestrina originates in the provinces of Frosinone, Latina and Rome, on the spines of the Monti Aurunci, the Monti Ausoni and the Monti Lepini. It is also raised in the Monti delle Mainarde and in the Val Comino, and on the Monti Prenestini. Its geographical range is similar to that of the Bianca Monticellana and the Ciociara Grigia; it is however usually found on higher and less accessible terrain than those breeds.
It 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 Italian national association of sheep- and goat-breeders. At the end of 2013 the registered population was variously reported as and as .
Characteristics
The Capestrina is of medium size: weights for nannies are commonly in the range , with a height at the withers of some , while billies normally weigh from and stand . The coat is either black or near-black (, 'seal black'); some have white Swiss markings on the face, and these often have white on the beard, the edges of the ears, the lower legs, the belly and the perianal area. The hair of the coat varies in length from about to more than . The goats are always bearded, billies particularly heavily so; the horns are large and spreading, and considerably flattened at the base.
Use
The average milk yield of the Capestrina, over and above that taken by the kids, is litres in 100 days for primiparous, litres in 150 days for secondiparous, and litres in 150 days for pluriparous, nannies.
Kids are slaughtered at about 40–50 days, at a weight of ; or, for Ferragosto, as caprettone ('large kid'), at a live weight of about .
References Registro Volontario Regionale delle risorse genetiche autoctone di interesse agrario a rischio di erosione (Legge Regionale 1 marzo 2000 n. 15): Capra Nera Capestrina (in Italian). Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo e l'Innovazione dell'Agricoltura del Lazio. Accessed June 2014.
Consistenze Provinciali della Razza Q6 Capestrina Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed June 2014.
Norme tecniche della popolazione caprina "Capestrina": standard della razza (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia. Archived 23 September 2015.
Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (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: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. . p. 328–29.
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
Breed data sheet: Capestrina/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2014.
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.