Heritage Anglo Nubian (AN)

STATUS - VULNERABLE

‘AN’ Anglo Nubians are the direct descendants of the original Anglo Nubian imports that arrived in Australia in the 1950’s. There were 10 goats imported before a ban on ruminates was imposed and today’s AN’s trace in all lines back to these original goats without any outcrosses to the Swiss breeds.
They are our closest genetic link to the goats used to create the breed, and are recognised by the RBTA as an endangered strain (category two) within a breed.

The Anglo Nubian breed was created in The UK in the late 1800’s by breeding bucks of exotic type - the Jumna Pari from India and the Zairabi from Nubia / Eritrea over native English goats and one of the criteria used to select foundation does was that they carry no crosses to the Swiss goats.
The Anglo Nubian was recognised as a breed in the UK well before any of the Swiss breeds.
Over time it became a common practice to out cross to the Swiss breeds to increase the herd numbers and also in an effort to increase milk quantity. Although Anglo Nubians on average give less milk and their lactations are shorter their milk is higher in butterfat and lends a unique flavour and consistency to cheese making.  
Sadly out crossing is still practiced today with large numbers of appendix animals being registered each year.

The light tan doe (right) is owned by Osory Stud and won Grand Junior Champion all breeds  at the Sydney Royal Show 2018.

Fortunately when these original Anglo Nubian imports arrived in Australia a small group of breeders saw the importance of breeding these lines ‘pure’ and over the years have persevered through some very hard times to save these valuable bloodlines.
In the DGSA (Dairy Goat Society of Australia) herd book the original imported Anglo Nubians and their direct descendants were given the prefix AN on their registration numbers ie AN1 AN2 etc.
Out crossed goats were registered with a prefix Nu. Because of these prefixes they became known as AN’s and Nu’s.

In 1982 this identification method in the herd book was phased out with the introduction of a computerised registration system. All herd book animals were given a prefix of N which was later changed to NPF for females and NPM for males. Many Nu breeders believed this would do away with the division in the breed (they felt that the recognition in the herd book inferred their lines were inferior) and the AN’s would be absorbed into the Nu lines.

These changes to the registrations did make it extremely difficult for anyone wanting to check pedigrees and trace bloodlines and due to this difficulty some breeders of AN’s did give up and their numbers started to decline. Another contributing factor was there was no longer any distinction in the herd book and new breeders coming into the DGSA were unaware that these animals existed.
At this time a few dedicated studs in NSW, Qld and WA did persevere to keep these AN lines going. In Qld Tanawha was one of the most prominent studs and in NSW the most influential of the old studs was Filleo owned by Ruth Marsden. Filleo bloodlines are found in all AN pedigrees today, other notable studs were Lue, Osory, Aremooc, Voden and  and in WA Joan Ferguson-Stewart of Riversleigh Stud. Osory and Aremooc are still breeding today.
In 2005 a submission was made to RBTA to have the AN Anglo Nubians recognised also a Breeders Group was formed to actively promote them through advertising and more recently on Facebook – Heritage Anglo Nubian Preservation Society of Australia . It is thanks to this along with the recognition from the RBTA that today we have renewed interest and the numbers are once again on the increase.
In an attempt to work with the breeders of outcrossed goats an agreement was reached to use the term Heritage Anglo Nubians.
The (‘AN’) Heritage Anglo Nubians are proud and exotic with a regal look at me presence, their milk is sweet and high in butterfat making it ideal for cheese making.  

If you are interested in knowing more please contact one of our State Representatives listed below:  
NSW: Darrell Bishop: Ph 02 6373 0382 / osory@winsoft.net.au
VIC :  Sharyn Carmichael Ph 03 5599 5213 /
QLD: Raewyn Bruce: Ph 07 54658873 / raewyn_bruce@hotmail.com

This information was kindly supplied to us by Raewyn Bruce,  President of The Heritage Anglo Nubian Breeders Group. If you would like further information, Raewyn may be contacted on the following email address:  raewyn_bruce@hotmail.com