Selection of the animal is the most important decision you can make. Structure, muscling, volume, capacity, style and balance will all play a major role in the show ring results. Proper management and a good quality feed will allow you to keep the animal healthy and give it all the nutritional requirements it needs. Remember that a good program cannot and will not make up for a lack of superior genetics. Management requires knowing how much the goat weighs, when the animal is too fat or too lean, keeping clean fresh water out daily and careful observation of any changes.
Live animal evaluation is done on a daily basis by everyone who works with animals. Good animal husbandry demands that we do more than just place the feed in front of the animals and hope that all is well. Evaluation is something that involves us all if we are associated with animal production. For each trait which we evaluate there is some standard. That standard may be our own or it may be an official judging standard approved by a specific breed association.
For purposes of this discussion we will concentrate on live animal evaluation aimed at producing and improving meat goats. Again, there has to be a set standard for the important traits we are going to consider.
Basic standards begin with structural soundness. As we evaluate structural soundness we will begin with the head of each animal and progress over the body ending with the hind feet.
Progressing over the animal’s body, the neck should extend smoothly out of the top of the shoulder. Low neck placement will result in a ewe necked appearance which is very undesirable. The length of the neck should be long but relative and balanced to the remainder of the animal’s body.
Going down to the front legs, it is important that the animal’s legs are straight and sound. Avoid buck-knees and other unsoundness. Strong pasterns are important but they need not be too straight. The pastern joint offers cushion to the skeleton just as does the proper slope to the shoulder. The front feet should set squarely on the ground and not turn in or out. This may be caused by poor hoof care but it can also be a structural weakness. Be especially critical of young animals with poor feet. Splayed toes are especially to be discouraged.
Width of the chest floor and boldness to the spring of the ribs should be sought in structural evaluation. These two characteristics yield performance ability in terms of growth and reproductive efficiency. Narrow based, flat sided animals merit discrimination. Do not be fooled by body condition, however. This is perhaps one of the most difficult structural traits to get a good handle on when looking at animals in poor body condition.
Structural soundness on the topline is also important. You do not want an animal with a weak back. Strength of top begins immediately behind the shoulder and a dip in the back right behind the shoulder is a serious flaw. Progressing along the topline to the rump, the rump needs to be moderately level and not steep. Many hind leg problems start with a poor rump structure. Good skeletal width at the hip bones and pin bones is important to animal performance.
The hind legs need to be straight from the side and the rear view. Avoid cow-hocked animals and sickle-hocked animals. Again the pasterns should be strong but not straight. Keep the skeleton flexible. It is also important to avoid post legged animals.
The next most important trait to consider when visually evaluating goats is muscle. The forearm is always a good indicator of true muscling since it varies less with body condition. Muscular, smooth shoulders are a positive trait. Then of course everyone wants to see muscle expressed down the animals topline and in the rear end. One of the widest parts on the young animal should be through the middle portion of the leg when viewed from the rear.
This is a highlight of the traits to use when selecting goats. You will note that color, shape of the ear, pigment under the tail and some other uneconomical traits which may be floating around the show scene have not been mentioned. This does not mean that they are unimportant. It simply means that they are minor traits and the real selection pressure must be on the major economically important traits before these types of things are considered.
Evaluation of Show Goats
|
Prospect & Show Goats |
Market Goats |
Criteria |
|
Young Goats |
Older Goats |
Points |
|
Points |
Points |
|
30 |
25 |
30 |
Structural Correctness, Style and Balance
- Up-headed with neck extending out of top of shoulders
- Strong level top
- Long rump with slight slope from hips to pins
- Front and rear legs should be straight and placed square under the body
- Strong pasterns; strong, well formed feet; quality of bone
- Proper blending of all body parts
|
|
25 |
25 |
25 |
Volume and Capacity
- Length of body
- Depth of body
- Width of body (spring o fribs, width through chest floor)
|
|
35 |
35 |
35 |
Muscling
- Deep, thickly-muscled leg and rump, stifle thickness
- Broad, thick back and loin
- bold shoulders, wide chest floor, prominent forearm
- Width between the front and rear legs
|
|
5 |
10 |
10 |
Condition
- Thin, uniform covering of fat over the loin, rib and shoulder
|
|
5 |
5 |
|
Eye appeal, color, etc. |
|
100 |
100 |
100 |
|