The Verata is a traditional Spanish breed of domestic goat. It is a dual-purpose breed, reared both for its meat and for its milk. It is named for, and is thought to originate in, the comarca of La Vera, in the province of Cáceres, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Extremadura in western central Spain. It is one of two traditional goat breeds in Extremadura, the other being the Retinta Extremeña.
History
The Verata is a traditional and heterogeneous goat breed from the Tagus depression in western central Spain, bounded to the south by the Montes de Toledo and to the north by the western Sistema Central. It was traditionally reared in the Sierra de Gredos, in the area where the provinces of Ávila, Cáceres and Toledo meet. Towards the end of the twentieth century there was some displacement of the breed from its area of origin, the comarca of La Vera, into the comarca of Navalmoral de la Mata to the south.
A herd-book was established by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, the Spanish ministry of agriculture, in 1986. A breed association, the , received government approval in 2000, and in 2008 the Verata was included by royal decree in a list of indigenous livestock breeds at risk of extinction. A breeding programme was approved by the Junta of Extremadura in 2020.
The Verata population has been in decline since the early twentieth century, for reasons including both economic depression and the aging of the rural population in its area of distribution. In 1986 the total number for the breed was reported to be just under head; in 2024 it was , consisting of breeding nannies and billies. Its conservation status was listed as "at risk/vulnerable".
Characteristics
The Verata usually varies in colour from jet-black to mahogany; a chestnut coat with dark belly and limbs also occurs. Horns are present in both sexxes; in the male they are close together at the base, rising vertically and then spiralling outwards. Billies are always beards, nannies often so.
The Verata displays marked sexual dimorphism: average heights at the shoulder are about for nannies and for billies, with corresponding body weights of and .
The goats are rustic and hardy, and are well adapted to a variety of types of terrain, from irrigated valley land to medium or high mountain pasture, where they are able to exploit vegetation that other animals cannot.
Use
The Verata is a dual-purpose breed, reared both for milk and for meat. Milk yields are usually in the range in a lactation of 180-240 days, but may reach in some cases.
Kids are slaughtered either as suckling kid at an age of 30–35 days, when they weigh some , or at Easter time at a live weight of between .
References
Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Romero Herrera (19 December 1986). [https://www.boe.es/eli/es/o/1986/12/19/(1)/dof/spa/pdf ORDEN de 19 de diciembre de 1986 por la que se implanta la Reglamentación Especffica del Libro Geneológico de la Raza Caprina Verata] (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial del Estado 3 (3 January 1987): 109–111. Reference: BOE-A-1987-113. European Legislation Identifier: permalink.
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
Verata / Spain (Goat). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2025.
Consejería de Agricultura, Desarrollo Rural, Medio Ambiente y Energía, Junta de Extramadura (22 March 2012). Decreto 37/2012, de 16 de marzo, por el que se aprueba la reglamentación específica del Libro Genealógico, Programa de mejora en su modalidad de conservación, control de rendimientos y evaluación genética de la raza autóctona en peligro de extinción: Raza Caprina Verata (in Spanish). Diario Oficial de Extremadura. (57): 5678–5694. Miguel Fernández Rodríguez, Mariano Gómez Fernández, Juan Vicente Delgado Bermejo, Silvia Adán Belmonte, Miguel Jiménez Cabras (editors) (2009). Guía de campo de las razas autóctonas españolas (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. .
Raza caprina Verata: Datos Generales (in Spanish). Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. Archived 13 May 2016.
[s.n.] (8 February 2022). Programa ee Cría de la Raza Caprina Verata: Aprobado mediante resolución de la Dirección General de Agricultura y Ganadería de la Consejería de Agricultura, Desarrollo Rural, Población y Territorio con fecha 20 de Noviembre de 2020 (in Spanish). Losar de La Vera: Asociación Extremeña de Criadores de Caprino de Raza Verata. Archived 2 August 2025.