Afar

The Afar goat is a lowland goat landrace kept by Afar pastoralists in Ethiopia and neighboring parts of the Horn of Africa, sometimes discussed alongside Danakil or Adal-type goats. It belongs to the dry, mobile herding systems of the Afar Depression and surrounding rangelands, where heat, long walks, and irregular forage shape the stock. Afar goats are generally short-coated, variable in color, and selected by use rather than a uniform appearance, with value placed on hardiness, browsing ability, and dependable reproduction.

In practice these goats fit pastoral and agro-pastoral flocks that move with pasture and water. They provide milk for home use, meat, sale animals, and herd security when cattle or camels are costly to maintain. Outside their home environment, keepers should not mistake the Afar for a high-yield dairy breed; its strengths are adaptation to arid management, tolerance of open-range disease and parasite pressure, and the ability to produce from rough forage. Community-based breeding work usually focuses on retaining those traits while improving kid survival and market weight.

Colors: Belted, Black, Black and White, Brown, Brown and White, Buckskin, Chamoisee, Cou Blanc, Cou Clair, Cream, Fawn, Gold, Moonspotted, Pinto, Red, Red and White, Roan, Spotted, Sundgau, Swiss Marked, Tan, White