The Boer goat is a domestic breed imported in 1993 to Denmark from South Africa, via New Zealand. It is considered one of the world’s best meat-producing species of small ruminants and is hardy and very sociable. The Boer goat is a big, fleshy goat with long, drooping ears. Its coat is white with brown head and neck, but Boer goats in a single colour such as red, brown or black also exist.
All domestic animals have originally descended from wild species. The ancestor of all domestic goat breeds is the Bezoar goat. Today wild goats are scattered throughout Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. The first wild goats were domesticated 8,000–9,000 years ago. Because goats are frugal and live on low-energy food, they soon became a popular domestic animal for poorer members of the population. For the same reason, the goat has been called “a poor man’s cow”. Domestic goats soon spread to Denmark but have never achieved the same proliferation as in the Middle East or Africa, for instance. Today, more than 400 different goat breeds are thought to have been bred from the Bezoar goat, one of which is the Boer goat.