tips on selecting kids

I am getting ready to buy my 1st ever 2 kids as future diary animals.I am working with a breeder who I trust and believe she knows her stuff.I understand looking at parents pedigrees.I also understand that while there are good lines, buying kids can be a bit of a potluck.So I am asking for tips and things to look for when selecting kids.I have been seeing pictures on the breeders website but am planning a visit soon to see kids in person.Thanks

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  • Thank you, Deborah,
    For the best explanation of how to choose your goat. I was able to understand this so much better after reading this from your website! I no need to go measure my doe and her legs! LOL Thanks!

    Deborah Phelps said:
    On my website I have a section on choosing your goat, that talks about conformation and has pics to explain what I'm talking about. It's not all you need to know, but it's a very good start - go to www.debpnigerians.com and click on Choosing Your Goat. When you're looking at young does, look at the sire's mother's udder. He's going to be passing on her udder. And when you're looking at those udder pics, keep in mind that usually those udders have 14 - 16 hours of milk in them, not just the 8-12 that a "professional" milker will have. Also pay attention to the color of the udder, especially the teats; if it's bright pink, red or has a distinctly shiny look she's actually over-uddered and carrying way more milk than is good for her.
    On selecting kids, if you can look at kids these breedings have produced before. Also remember that while certain things improve with age - body length, for one - leg conformation usually doesn't. If she toes out as a kid she's going to toe out as an adult. Ditto for steep rumps. Stand out in the pasture and watch them play, and watch the dams move around too. A good showman can make any goat look good long enough to snap a picture, but the flaws show up when they're out walking around on their own. There's no such things as a perfect goat so you pick the flaws you can live with ... for a home milker, I'd take a doe that toed out over a doe with a steep rump as the shape of the rump is also the shape of the birth canal, and steep is bad.
  • If you're going to be milking your goats, be sure to buy from someone who milks. I know a lot is written about how appearance determines milking ability, but it's not true all the time. If you're going to be hand-milking, get a goat whose dam and sire's dam have long teats. Ask the breeder about the dam's udder texture. If the udder is meaty, leathery, etc., it will be hard to milk her, even if she has long teats. Excellent texture can make up for short teats.

    I learned all of this the hard way and wound up selling about 3/4 of the does we originally bought, and I was honest about why I was selling them. Some people bought those does because they machine milk, so they don't care as much about udder texture and teat length. Some people bought them because they weren't planning to milk. Teats are only worth 4-5 points on the scorecard (out of 100), depending upon which registry you're showing under, so if someone's main focus is show, they might be willing to put up with short teats on an otherwise excellent goat. I know someone who bought a finished champion and wound up returning her because she couldn't milk her -- teats were too short.

    Personality is also really important for a milker, which is why it's important to buy from someone who milks, if you want to milk. Some goats don't like to be milked, and it's kind of hard to hit the bucket when a doe is doing pirouettes on the milkstand or laying down on the bucket. I noticed really quickly that personality is very genetic, and the crazy mamas had crazy daughters. Bottle-feeding can alter personalities in an individual goat, but it doesn't alter the genetics, which is why I like to buy bucks from people who dam raise, since we also dam raise. I want a goat that is naturally friendly. If you plan to bottle-feed, then this won't apply to you as much, unless you ever decide to switch to dam raising. I have a doe out of a crazy mama, and she was bottlefed because she was a quad and wasn't gaining weight. So, she's super friendly, but her kids have that same crazy personality when she raises them, even though she is VERY sweet. I've heard people say that wild mamas teach their kids to be wild, but I haven't really seen that to be true.

    So, that's probably way more than what you ever wanted to know! But the bottom line is to find someone whose philosophy matches yours and who is doing what you want to do.
  • On my website I have a section on choosing your goat, that talks about conformation and has pics to explain what I'm talking about. It's not all you need to know, but it's a very good start - go to www.debpnigerians.com and click on Choosing Your Goat. When you're looking at young does, look at the sire's mother's udder. He's going to be passing on her udder. And when you're looking at those udder pics, keep in mind that usually those udders have 14 - 16 hours of milk in them, not just the 8-12 that a "professional" milker will have. Also pay attention to the color of the udder, especially the teats; if it's bright pink, red or has a distinctly shiny look she's actually over-uddered and carrying way more milk than is good for her.
    On selecting kids, if you can look at kids these breedings have produced before. Also remember that while certain things improve with age - body length, for one - leg conformation usually doesn't. If she toes out as a kid she's going to toe out as an adult. Ditto for steep rumps. Stand out in the pasture and watch them play, and watch the dams move around too. A good showman can make any goat look good long enough to snap a picture, but the flaws show up when they're out walking around on their own. There's no such things as a perfect goat so you pick the flaws you can live with ... for a home milker, I'd take a doe that toed out over a doe with a steep rump as the shape of the rump is also the shape of the birth canal, and steep is bad.
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