Old Irish Goat’s genetics go back to Bronze Age
A recent study reveals that the Old Irish Goat shares a genetic link with domestic goats that lived in Ireland millennia ago. The study, led by University College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast, sug- gests that this rare goat breed represents a continuous Irish lineage stretching back 3,000 years to the late Bronze Age.
The Old Irish Goat is a traditional breed developed by early farmers for meat, milk, hair and hides. The Irish goat is currently en- dangered, with a total population estimated at just 25-30 individuals. Although it is a liv- ing link to ancient farming communities, the Irish Goat is no longer kept in captivity and currently can only be found living feral. Both sexes are bearded and horned and their long hair can be black, grey or white. Due to their long presence in Ireland, these goats are highly adapted to the climate and to life in the Irish landscape.
Irish Goats live in family groups (usually fewer than 12 individuals) led by a dominant nanny. The group is composed of adult females, their daughters and their juve- nile sons under one year old. Adult males typically live separate from females and kids for most of the year, only joining a group of females during the rutting season. In summer, the goats consume grasses, sedges, rushes and bilberries. In winter, they eat heather, gorse and shrubs. They also eat bark from the trunks of oak, willow, spruce, a variety of pine tree species and, in coastal areas, they eat seaweed.
They freely roam the remote mountains and hills of Mayo, the western slopes of the Ox Mountains, Achill Island and the Mul- ranny area.
“There were no goats originally in Ire- land; humans likely brought them to the is- land as part of farming culture during our Neolithic period roughly 6,000 years ago,” the study’s senior author, palaeogenomicist Kevin Daly/, an Assistant Professor at the University College Dublin said. “Their ancestors were domesticated in
southwest Asia, probably in the environs of the Zagros Mountains in western Iran.” Professor Daly and collaborators ana- lyzed ancient remains that had been un- earthed at the hillfort at Haughey’s Fort in County Armagh, dating to around 1100–900 BCE and from the medieval town of Carrick- fergus in County Antrim.
Professor Daly and collaborators used radiocarbon dating combined with genetic and protein analyses to confirm that the Late
May 2026 | Goat Rancher 37 Feral Irish Goats — with their unique horns and hair — photographed around Glendalough, Ireland.
Bronze Age animals are indeed the oldest goat remains identified in Ireland to date. This research also uncovered recent ge- netic changes in these goats. The medieval goats had varied genetic profiles but the mod- ern-day Irish Goats show clear signs of in- breeding that is linked to its dramatic population collapse over recent decades. His- torically known in Irish as an Gabhar Fiáin
— the wild goat — this breed was Ireland’s only domesticated goat until about 1900, and thus, is an intimate part of Irish folklore. It has long been recognized as a symbol of resil- ience, wisdom and rural life because of these hardy goats’ ability to survive on land with little agricultural or developmental value whilst also producing nutrient-dense milk that made them invaluable to small farmers. n
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