Breed Description

A breed description describes the range of traits found within a breed’s population versus a standard which gives the ideal traits of an individual within a breed. Typically used for landrace breeds, breed descriptions can also be applied to feral breeds. San Clemente Island Goats are a feral breed, having developed with minimal human involvement in their genetic selection on San Clemente Island. Our breed description is derived from the time frame of just before they were removed from San Clemente Island in 1981, as they had nearly 100 years to go through natural selection to become the very unique San Clemente Island goat breed.

“Basically, SCIG means a goat that has all ancestors from the island at some point. This is the only point that is important in either including or excluding goats. This is a very different situation than we face with other landraces that might have multiple foundation herd sources. In that case, the major question is whether the candidate animals are typical of the breed or not, with less emphasis on their specific geographic origin. The key issue here is educating breeders that ANY goat that traces back to the island is indeed a San Clemente (Island) goat, regardless of its phenotype. This is fundamentally different than evaluating candidate animals for inclusion into mainland landraces.”  ~ Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg

Still, a general breed description is helpful for breeders to understand the historical ranges of traits which were produced on the island. It is reiterated that any SCI goat whose ancestors are from the Island are San Clemente Island goats. None of them would be excluded for their characteristics as long as those characteristics do not impede their health. 

*Note on Height: Height on goats is always measured at the withers. Go here for an article on how to do it: https://www.tmgronline.com/measuring-your-goats  

*Note on Weight: When the same genetics are available in multiple goats, please consider including weight to your evaluation criteria and choosing goats within the historical range.

Note:  This breed description is a living document subject to change. All information presented will be reviewed by the SCIGBA Breed Description Committee every two years or as new information becomes available. This description has been reviewed by Dr. Philip Sponenberg, to whom we are indebted for his advice and direction.

Adoption of Breed Characteristics, September 9, 2021