Szotyori-Nagy Ágnes (szerk.): A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 2013-2015 (Budapest, 2015)
Tanulmányok - Pócz Dániel: A magyar parlagi kecskéről
Az idők folyamán sok minden szólt már a fajta ellen, de méltatást érdemlő tulajdonságairól jóval kevesebb szó esett. Például, hogy a leghitványabb tartásmód mellett is hasznot hajt. Kincset érő tejéről, húsáról, szőréről, bőréről, tülkéről, trágyájáról, legelőkészségének előnyeiről, teherbírásáról, intelligenciájáról és taníthatóságáról, igénytelenségéről és alkalmazkodásáról megfeledkezhetünk, de egyet nem tehetünk: nem várhatjuk meg, hogy régi magyar fajtánk csendben kipusztuljon a szemünk előtt. The Hungarian landrace goat DÁNIEL PÓCZ The study is concerned with the history of a sadly ignored Hungarian domesticated breed, the landrace goat. A discussion of provenance, naming, regional varieties and breeding methods will serve to present the breed’s historical and ethnographic values. The author examines how Hungarians considered the goat, how much they valued its characteristics and how little they appreciated it despite the fact that due to its undemanding nature it delivers products practically from nothing. Stress was laid on to quote from several historical works in order to colour the presentation, especially as written records - from as early as 1256 - mention the word for goat or its several written and regional variations. The breed is most frequently referred to in urbarial regulations and laws. The latter mainly concern the banning of goat herds from younger forests in order to protect them. A separate study could be devoted to the occupation of Vlach shepherds and their influence on the animal husbandry of historical Hungarian regions, as this ethnic group was occupied with alpine goat herding and they never moved to the plains where, largely due to the spread and development of farming and forest management, goats had been ousted from. Consequently goat farming moved to the peripheral mountain areas, where it almost naturally fell into the hands of alpine shepherds and where goats were kept together with sheep in the same herd, in areas unsuitable for other kinds of farming. Thus the goat, as a nomadic or semi-nomadic relic, lived outside the sphere of agriculture. Smaller populations remaining in the plains developed into varieties with different body shape and usually colour. Apart from a few exceptions, such as keeping them for their milk by the nobility, goats remained the domestic animal of the poorer segments of society. Goat farmers had no possibility of improving their herd with foreign breeds and this is the cause for the survival and ancient form of the Hungarian landrace. If attempts were made to improve the dairy capacity of goats, which is anyway better than that of sheep, then these could only be based the Kovalik method from 1915, where the newly founded breeding stock was based on Hungarian landrace goats with excellent milking capabilities. This could easily mean the survival of the breed. 31
