Xintai Qing Mountain Goat

Xintai Qing Mountain Goat

　　The Xintai Qing Mountain Goat is one of the superior goat breeds in Tai’an City. It is a dual-purpose breed used for both its hide and meat. Its meat has a warming nature that nourishes blood and essence, making it beneficial for patients with tuberculosis, bronchitis, iron-deficiency anemia, and postpartum weakness. It is also a highly nutritious food in daily diets. The breed is distributed across the entire city, but is most concentrated in Xintai.

　　　 The Qing Mountain Goat is well known for its ability to thrive on coarse feed and its high fertility rate. It can be raised in either open grazing or confined conditions, is not picky about feed, and has strong disease resistance. Adult ewes typically give birth twice a year, with two or more kids per birth, sometimes up to 6–7 kids, averaging a kidding rate of 270%.

　　　 The lambskins produced by the Qing Mountain Goat are called Qing Hua Pi (literally “green smooth skin”), which feature naturally beautiful spiral or wavy patterns. The leather is soft, smooth, and of high quality, making it a premium material for fur production. During the Qing Dynasty, it was even offered as a tribute. Today, it remains in high demand for export, though its production is limited. The hides of adult goats are known as goat parchment hides, which are also a major export product in the region.

　　　 The main characteristics of the Qing Mountain Goats in the region include bluish-black wool, lips, horns, and hooves, with black front knees—commonly referred to as “four blues and one black.” The Qing Hua Pi can be categorized into several types, including Zheng Qing (pure blue), Tie Qing (iron blue), and Fen Qing (pinkish blue), among which Zheng Qing is the most valuable.

　　　 In 1983, to ensure the development of this superior goat breed, the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture invested 20,000 yuan to establish the “Qing Mountain Goat Conservation and Breeding Base” and the “National Goat Parchment Hide Base” in Xintai. By the year 2000, the city had approximately 370,000 Qing Mountain Goats.