Goat Conformation/Breeding Education

[Queen Mum]

OK, here is Mama. There are a LOT of things wrong with her and a lot of things right with her. Go ahead and critique her for the exercise. Remember, she is an Alpine Dairy goat, gives a TON of milk. She weighs 250 pounds and drops BEAUTIFUL babies. She is the herd queen and is the best darn watch goat anyone could ever have. But as a show goat she would bomb.

In this next picture she was incredibly stressed. A bear had eaten one of our goats and she had lost most of her hair and 15% of her body weight trying to protect the herd. But it should give you an idea of her udder attachment from the side and rear.

This is what she looks like now.

 

[NaturesPace]

Is this a good place to get some advice on a couple of Nigerian dwarfs? I have some photos of the girls I'm thinking of buying. I think they look great, but need some more eyes on them.

 

[NaturesPace]

Anyone want to tell me the pros and cons of these two girls. they are about 3 months old.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Welll!!!!!
It is very hard to judge a doe, especially a young doe from a picture.

You really need to see an animal moving,

But, the black doe is better in the pics.

Other does legs are kind of straight, not enough curve at hocks

Butttttt. Black doe is posed better in picture.

Both have very level toplines, but most juniors do.

They both look good, nothing wrong in the pic with either of them

Get a picture from behind,

 

[NaturesPace]

I really appreciate your wisdom.

i only have the buckskin from behind. we are going to visit them next week and make our final decisions.
We want them to be good dairy goat but aren't too worried about them being the best milkers. between the two we should have plenty of milk for us and cheese making.
I do however want to breed them to the proper male to ensure the best offspring.

what i'm worried about is if they have any issues that could cause problems in the long run.

 

[OneFineAcre]

From the pictures, there doesn't seem to be any problem with their conformation. Like I said, in the first picture the black doe seems to have a better shape to her hocks, but it could be the pose. The other doe had her leg kicked back, but her back legs seem a little posty.

But, that would only be an issue if you were showing them and she was compared to other does who maybe had a better shape.

From the rear she seems to have space to accomodate an udder, you look for a "bow" back there, again you don't want them to look to posty from behind.

They have slightly different angles on their rump, but that again could be a factor of the way the one doe is posed.

They both look like they have had a show clipping recently, were they shown?

In the pictures, the black doe looks better to me.


But, I think you should get them both

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I was going to say the same thing as One Fine, about the legs on both. I would choose the black one if you could only choose one. Her overall shape at this point looks fantastic. Of course they change quite a bit too as they grow. The pic isn't great but I think the little buckskin almost looks like the neck extends down in a fairly smooth line, blending right into the front leg. I think the preference is for the front legs to be a little farther back, almost squarely under the body, you can see the definition nicely on the pic with the black baby. Of course the buckskin also appears younger and the poses are a bit different.....they are both beautiful.

 

[Goats are Great]

What do you think of these does? They're all late spring kids...2015

 

[Goats are Great]

What do you think of these does? They're all late spring kids...2015

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I have no clue why my pics look upside down? Also these are 6-8 week pics...