Dairy Goat Linear Appraisal

 We had our third Linear Appraisal last Friday. 

As we try to produce show quality goats for our show buyers, and as we ourselves don't show, we participate in appraisal to have a unbiased(as best as can be) opinion on the conformation of our goats.

It may seem contradictory for me to be focusing so much on conformation in goats, when those who know me know how much I hate emphasis being placed on the conformation of dogs, particularly Border Collies, so I shall endeavor to explain the difference, as I see it.

Though conformation is high on our list of what we want in our goats, higher priorities are health and production, with temperament slightly lower. If we have a beautiful doe that just keeps getting sick for no good reason, or is always needing dewormed, we grit our teeth and send her to the auction. Temperament, milk production and conformation are all slightly variable to each other. We may put up with an "ugly" doe simply because she gives a lot of milk, or has a phenomenal temperament. (Simcoe, Jazz and Desi all come to mind.) Or we may put up with a doe that has lower production but is very nice conformationally(think Clare). Crossing these types of does to the right bucks should yield in the type of kids we want. Desi is a prime example-bred to several different bucks, we have gotten kids from her that retain her nice temperament and production, and are much nicer than her in conformation. We do want good conformation so that the doe holds up well over the years, but try super hard not to get sucked into the "the more emphasis on this trait the better" group that then goes too far the other way, like show people did to the German Shepherd dog.

In the case of multiple breeds of dogs, particularly the German Shepherd, people have selected this one trait that the breed is known for, i.e. slightly crouched hindquarters for more jumping power, and have so overbred that trait that now the breed walks on its hocks, and suffer debilitating back conditions and even paralysis. 

Show dogs are show dogs, period. They retain very little instinct for the work they were originally bred to do. 

In the case of most show goats, they still perform as they were originally designed to do(milk) with conformation a close second, and that only as it supports a heavy udder and longevity of the animal. They work, not just prance around the show ring and bring home ribbons. 

Anyway...

We brought 7 does down to appraisal, but Izzy and Jazzy did not get appraised because they had no tattoos to verify who they were. We were/are super embarrassed, as the ADGA sends multiple reminders of things to do before your appraisal date, and checking tattoos is always on the checklist. We did feel some better to later learn that another women there also had two does that weren't tattooed, and a friend who was appraised the next day, also had a doe without tattoos. I think we all learned something this year-read the rules and follow them!! 

There are several categories that the appraiser looks at(i.e. front legs, head, shoulders, etc.), but the four that are included with the final score are, in this order:

General Appearance: does the doe just "look nice" overall?

Dairy Strength: does she look like a dairy animal, vs. a meat animal?

Body Capacity: does she have the room throughout her ribcage and abdomen to support a lot of feed digestion, which is turn supports milk production?

Mammary System: will her udder hold up well over the years, be easy to milk, and not drag on the ground? 

The letters they use to score these categories are:

E(excellent)

V(very good)

+(good plus)

A(acceptable)

F(fair)

P(poor)

Marion got a final score of +V+V 86

Clare, VVEE 89 

Bunny, VEVE 89

Eclipse, +++V 85

 

+V+E 87

Totally random, but on the way home from appraisal we say this caribou head in the back of some rancher's pickup!