Both male and female Stiefelgeiss goats have horns. Their coats
range from a light greyish brown to a dark reddish color. The
animals are not excessively shaggy, but on the animals' hind
end, long beard hairs, called "Mänteli," grow much longer and
often are of a different color from the rest of the coat. Some
members of the breed display long, beard-like hairs on the chin.
Until the 1920s, the goat was actively bred, but by the 1980s,
it was nearly extinct. Noting this, the Swiss preservation
foundation Pro Specie Rara took an interest in the breed. Now
mostly managed by the Booted Goat Breeders Club of Switzerland,
the ongoing conservation efforts encourage farmers to keep the
goats for their agricultural usefulness, for service as mother
nannies, and for meat. While still an endangered population, the
recent trend in their numbers has been positive. As of 2001,
there were 600 members spread among 87 breeders. They are
concentrated in eastern Switzerland, with scattered breeding
groups also found in the cen