By Taylor Graves, Washington County Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent
CONFORMATION AND HOW IT APPLIES TO YOUR HERD
Conformation is the skeletal and muscular structures of an animal. It can also be defined as a term used to describe the ‘correct appearance’ and ‘body structure’ of an animal. Conformation is often talked about when judging livestock at shows, but it isn’t a main point of discussion when commercial producers want to start a herd. So, why should conformation be important to a commercial producer? Goats with correct conformation are likely to: live longer, deliver kids with more ease, have an easier time raising kids, breed back easier, utilize their feed better, and are less likely to have structural weakness or joint pain. Overall, a goat with proper conformation will stay in production longer and thus be more profitable. Makes conformation sound much more appealing, right? Next, we will discuss how to analyze a goat for correct conformation. Start by getting familiar with your parts! These images are from ABGA and ADGA.
FRONT END ASSEMBLY
Neck: Should be strong, long, and blend smoothly and tightly into the body.
Point of Shoulder: should blend smoothly into the chest, not sticking out past the chest.
Elbow: should blend tightly into the barrel, not "winging out" when walking.
Withers: The shoulder should blend tightly at the withers. A “loose shoulder” will wing upwards when the goat is in motion.
Head: clean cut and balanced in width, length, and depth. Broad muzzle and full nostrils. Boer goats should have a Roman nose (as seen in the doe below).
Also, look for any issues such as underbite or overbite.
TOPLINE AND BACK
Crops: should be full causing the chine to blend smoothly into the withers.
Chine/Rack: should blend into withers and be level with loin.
Loin: the loin contains one of the prime cuts of meat, so it should be long and wide in addition to being straight.
Rump: slightly angled, but NOT steep. It should be uniformly wide from the hips down to the pins and between the thurls.
Thurls: set two-thirds of the distance from hips to pin bones.
Tail head: slightly above and set smoothly between pin bones.
Withers: Dairy does should be slightly taller at withers than at the hips. This gives the natural "uphill" look.
Topline: Combining the parts mentioned above, it is important to look at a doe from the profile and see that the topline is one smooth line.
FEET AND LEGS
Front Legs: should be straight when viewed from the side. Straight and square when viewed from the front.
Rear Legs: Should have an intermediate angle at the hocks. Should be straight and wide when viewed from the rear.
Pasterns: should be strong with a good set to the pasterns. Too much or too little angulation can lead to lameness. Pasterns should be a medium length.
Feet: should be square and should point forward. When the goat walks, its back foot should land where its front foot left. Deep heels with soles nearly uniform in depth from toe to heel.
SIZE AND BODY CAPACITY
Withers: height should be measured at the point of the withers.
Chest: should be wide and strong. Width should be uniform with base width and carried throughout the entire body of the goat.
Heart Girth: Should be deep and full at the point of the elbow. Can also be referred to as forerib.
Depth of Rib (Barrel): when viewed from the profile does should show an increasing depth from the front end to the rear barrel.
Spring of Rib (Barrel): When viewed from the side the doe should have a round "well-sprung" rib shape.
Width of base: When viewed from the rear or front does should be wide at the base of their legs.
Width down top: When looking over the top of the does make sure she carries width from her shoulder back.
Profile: make sure the doe is long-sided, specifically from shoulder to hips.
MAMMARY SYSTEMS
Rear Udder: Capacious, high, and wide. Uniformly wide and deep from attachment to the floor.
Fore Udder: Wide and full to the side. Should extend moderately forward and blend in smoothly.
Teats: Teats should be pointed nearly straight and down and situated at an equal distance from the median suspensory ligament. Uniform size and medium length and diameter in proportion with the rest of the udder. Teats should be cylindrical in shape. Boer does should have no more than 2 distinct teats per side, 1 on each side is preferred. Bucks' teat structure should also be evaluated.
Attachment: The udder should attach up high with a strong medial suspensory ligament. Look for a high rear udder attachment and a long smooth fore udder attachment. Also, look for clearly defined udder halves. It may help to think of an upside-down heart.
TEAT STRUCTURES
Please note that teat structure is even important in our Bucks, especially if you plan to retain any females for your herd.
DAIRY STRENGTH
Angularity and openness with strong yet refined and clean bone structure, showing enough substance, but with freedom from coarseness. In our more angular dairy does you will see triangles, compared to Boers where you should have more of a rectangular shape.
MUSCLING
Forearm: Should be meaty with the muscling carrying down to the knee.
Loin: The loin area is the best indicator of muscling in a goat. It should be wide and long. There should be a slight "butterfly shape" over the top when you view the goat down the top line. You can feel the butterfly shape on each side as a bulge when you handle the goats topline. The thicker and wider the bulge on each side, the better the loin.
Hindquarters: Hindquarters should be thick and shapely. The rump should be heavily muscled, twist should be deep, and the stifle should be bulging. The thigh should attach low on the hock.
Flank: Should be deep and blend in smoothly with the stifle.
Base Width: Should be wide at the ground and carry that width through the top.
Neck: The neck should be thick and strong but maintain feminine qualities.
Brisket: Fatter goats tend to carry extra weight in their brisket.
Remember that FAT is FLAT
STYLE AND BALANCE:
Refers to the overall appearance of the goat. A well-balanced goat is one that has all the different "parts" we talked about put together smoothly and well-proportioned to each other.
A stylish goat tends to be flashy. They will walk with an alert appearance and a long, firm, stride, and head high in the air. The elegance and fluidness will be visually appealing.
ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
Breeding Animals 1) Structural Correctness 2) Size/Stature & Body Capacity 3) Muscling 4) Style & Balance | Market Animals 1) Muscling 2) Size/Stature & Body Capacity 3) Structural Correctness 4) Style & Balance |
"A good breeding animal should produce good market animals. Although certain traits, such as muscling, may be of lesser importance in a breeding animal, that doesn’t mean they should be ignored, only that general appearance is more important for productivity. As your entire herd, nearly equal in importance, and closely related for instance, is structurally correct and has large body capacities, you can then concentrate more on muscling, and improve profits because of more muscular animals. An ideal breeding animal will produce an ideal market animal. "
SOURCES:
The information in this handout reflects a compilation of information from publications as well as from the ABGA and ADGA breed standards.
Basic Judging | Snowden Family Farm
Photos from:
Blue Team Wethers
Bailey Bergherm
Taylor Graves, University of Kentucky Washington County Extension Office
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