WITH grace they stand before media persons, businessmen and admirers. The faces of this beauty pageant in Saudi Arabia’s capital are radiant. The contestants have full faces, groomed hair and long legs, necks and horns. And they aren’t wearing clothes.

Wait a second, you say. No clothes? Horns?

Don’t let your imagination go too far. These are goats, and the winner of this contest earns SR100,000 for its owner.

And these aren’t just any goats.

“These type of goats were first seen about two decades ago when some Syrian traders brought them to the goat market, south of Riyadh,” said Abu Ibrahim, a goat trader. “People began slowly to raise and breed them.”

These goats don’t look like your typical stock. They have rounder faces, larger eyes and floppier ears. They’re typically larger than typical goats. Essentially, they have the features that the judges ad breeders of such contests consider “the ideal goat”.

Abu Ibrahim says goat breeders in Saudi Arabia have grown so fond of these animals that some have devoted websites to them. The barter of these goats has grown since they were introduced. On these websites all information concerning the goats are released which include the animal’s origins, type, size, auction areas, news releases, and more.

In Riyadh alone there are three goat markets: Two in Al-Jandiriya and one in the Al-Masanei district. Auctionc occur in the last Thursday of every month. Bidders pay handsomely for prime specimens and then sell them off to other traders for profit.

Like champion stallions or a special dog breed, these goats are traded with documents outlining their lineage, including the names, origins and reputations of the mothers and fathers. The names can be quite fun, such as: Troublemaker (one wonders what this goat did to earn that name!), the Stud, Gladiator and Cigar. At a recent goat gathering in Riyadh there was even one named “Saddam” after the late dictator of Iraq; the owner reportedly picked the name because he thought (perhaps correctly) that it would garner attention.

The prices of these creatures can fetch up to SR50,000, considerably more than “grilling goats” you might pick up from your local butcher to take to a family feast in the desert. Prices for these prizes animals can go much further in some cases.

“Anything above SR30,000 and as high as SR100,000 means that the goat has extraordinary features,” said Abu Abdul Aziz, another goat breeder in Riyadh. “The highest price a person has paid (here) for one of these special goats is SR250,000.”