The Dwindling Fortunes Of The Goat

4,500 years ago the first goats turned up on Mallorca, and of the two varieties of goat on the island, one of them is the same as those very first goats - the "boc balear" otherwise known as the Mallorcan wild goat. The other variety is more recent - the feral goat, a one-time domestic animal that went AWOL. The two of them live in relative peace and harmony in the wild, the boc a supposedly more eco-friendly goat than its feral cousin on account of having a more varied vegetation diet. This supposition, long held it would seem, turns out not to be the case. Scientists, who enjoy studying things like the feeding behaviours of wild goats in Mallorca, have discovered that there is no discernible difference between the two when it comes to any negative influence on the island's natural vegetation. So, we can all be thankful for this, one supposes.

This research has only recently been published - this year in fact. By its very nature, it is a study that will only set the pulses racing of fellow animal behaviour scholars. For the rest of us, it will not. But nonetheless, it indicates the importance of goats to Mallorca; something which should be obvious. If they've been around for four and a half millennia, then they have every reason to be considered to be important.

Of course, not all goats are wild. The domestic and farm goat, one that has avoided going feral, has its own, centuries-long importance to Mallorca, but how important has it ranked alongside the three other main farm animals - cattle, sheep and pigs?

Of the four, it is fair to say that sheep have long been the most prized. When King Jaume I conquered Mallorca in the thirteenth century, he received as part of the spoils of war some 90,000 sheep in Arta alone. There were also 10,000 head of cattle in this part of the island's north-east, but the latter's population has fluctuated enormously over the centuries. By the end of the eighteenth century, while over 150,000 sheep were being raised on Mallorca, there were only 7,500 cattle.

Two centuries earlier, a very detailed census of livestock had been undertaken so that the Viceroy of Mallorca, Luis Vich y Manrique de Lara, could know exactly what there were by way of farm animals on his patch. Of 257,917 animals in all, 70% of them were sheep. Trailing a fair distance behind were the goats - 18%. But they were well ahead of both pigs (4.5%) and cattle (2%).

These percentages remained fairly stable until the nineteenth century. Pigs, which had never been considered to have great farming value, acquired a value when agricultural land usage diversified away from being predominantly cereal-based. The cultivation of fig trees was the making of the pig. It could be fattened in double-quick time and to a larger size thanks to the fig.

Coming up to the present day, the livestock breakdown has changed significantly. For the Balearics as a whole, a census has registered 479,000 animals. Sheep remain way ahead of the pack with 364,000. Pigs, though, are now firmly in second place, having attained a position not that much short of that which the goats of the sixteenth century had. Cattle amount to just over 5%, but goats are back in last place with only 4%.

The decline of the goat isn't difficult to explain. Of the cattle, these divide fairly evenly between beef herd and milk cows. Their yields in terms of meat and milk are far greater than those of goats. Of the 19,000 or so goats which are now reared, only a quarter are used for milk, which still leaves a fair number that make their way on to a restaurant's table. But the popularity of goat as a meat is nothing like it was, unlike lamb, and the consequence has been that goat herds have become something of a rarity on Mallorca.

Nevertheless, the goat retains its importance as much because of its ancient association with Mallorca as its current-day production. Way back when, in pre-Roman times, the island's economy, where livestock was concerned, was a sheep and goat one, and it is this combination that provides the theme for this weekend's fair in Calvia village. There is a gastronomy element to the fair, dedicated to the traditions of cuisine that sheep and goats offer. "Cabrito" will be on offer, and so does the fair hint at a revival in the popularity of goat meat? Probably not. The decline in the farming of goats is unlikely to be reversed.