The National Association of Breeders of Grey Alpine cattle – A.N.A. GREY ALPINE – was founded on 19 June 1980. Recognition of its legal personality was granted by means of Presidential Decree no. 992 of 23 June 1985 and published in the Official Gazette no. 87 of 15.04.1986. With the reorganisation of the Italian livestock system, ANAGA in 2019 became a first degree association. The Association conducts its selection activities throughout the nation.

Organised selection of the Grey Alpine goes back to the nineteen forties, when the first breeders’ associations were formed. These managed breeding and the use of reproductive bulls at the local level. In 1949 the South Tyrolean Alpine Grey Cattle Breeders’ Federation (Bolzano) and in the 1957 the Provincial Breeders Federations of Trento were founded. These coordinated the checks on milk production and the use of reproductive bulls at the provincial level.
On 28 September 1981 the Minister of Agriculture and Forests granted official recognition to the Herd Book of the Grey Alpine Breed, which thus became the National Herd Book and was initially entrusted to the Italian Breeders Association (AIA) for management.
After receiving legal recognition in 1985 and consequently being entrusted with management of the National Herd Book, the National Association, ANAGA, began its own activities, setting up the Central Office in Bolzano in 1986 and developing its own selection programme.