-- ABGA/USBGA/IBGA Standards Compared

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO HOME PAGE, includes buck, doe, & developmental photos, kids for sale, etc.

DISBUDDING HORNS

U.S. MAP of Mineral Distribution /Counties

CHART of Lamb meat cuts

Withdrawal Times for Medicines

POISONOUS PLANTS

REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES:

Go to:  http://www.sheepandgoat.com/manage.html  for all kinds of goat management and care and information.

RETURN TO EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL INDEX CLICK ON (Return)

GOAT (1)

122

2.58

0.79

23

3.2

BEEF (2)

245

16

6.8

23

2.2

PORK (2)

310

24

8.7

21

2.7

LAMB

235

16

7.3

22

1.4

CHICKEN (2)

120

3.5

1.1

21

1.5

Chart of Teeth

CASEOUS LYMPHADENITIS,  Commonly referred to as CL

(1)Cheek abscess or cud retention; (2)Salivary mucocele, (3)Tooth root abscess, (4)Bottle jaw, (5)Thyroid gland, (6)Thymus gland, and (7)Wattle cyst.

GUIDELINES FOR MAINTAINING GOOD GOAT HERD HEALTH

From article by: Dr. Gary L. Vannoy, D.V.M.

     Dehorning or disbudding

     Parturition or obstetrical procedures

     Tattooing

      Hoof Trimming

      Puncture wounds

      Dog bites

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Ringworm can be treated with topicals, injectables or oral preparations.  None will give instant cures. (Return)

☻Treatments which damage adjacent healthy skin may allow the fungus to spread.

☻Even after the lesions are free from fungus, hair growth will take at least two to three weeks.

☻Disinfect clippers, brushes, blankets and sweaters regularly.

☻Sometimes ringworm is mistaken for Dermatophilus, which is a bacterial infection of the skin. (Return)

OVERALL QUALITY, SIZE, APPEARANCE AND TYPE (General Appearance)-ABGA: The overall objective is for a goat to have suitable size with maximum meat yields, good structural conformation which meets environmental and production requirements, high adaptability to environmental conditions and high fertility. Ideally, this is an animal with short glossy hair with fine luster. The major portion of the body should be white with dark coloration around the head and pigmented skin in hairless areas around the head and under the tail to reduce sunburn, cancers, and skin diseases. A loose, supple skin helps the animal adapt to wide climatic conditions, and possibly provides resistance to external parasites. In general appearance, a Boer Goat has a dark head and horns which curve backwards. Animals should be strong, vigorous, and symmetrical, with well balanced muscling. Bucks should be masculine and well proportioned, but not overly developed in the head, neck and forequarter, making it out of proportion with the rest of the body. Does should be feminine, yet strong, and have a slightly more angular chest than bucks. They should be able to breed easily and have the conformation and constitution to easily raise fast growing kids. Overall, the ideal is rapidly growing, well proportioned goat of suitable size with the ability to maximally produce prime cuts of meat to meet consumer demands. A desirable relationship between the length of leg and depth of body should be achieved at all ages with kids and young goats being slightly longer in the leg.

GENERAL APPEARANCE - IBGA-International:  None listed.  However, here would be a good place to define the terms "serious defects" and "very serious defects" as used by IBGA.  "The severity of a fault is based on the extent to which it would jeopardize the three most important functions of the Boer goat: to produce meat, to be pasture-hardy, and to produce offspring.  "Very serious defects" interfere with the goats being able to carry a suitable amount of meat on its body, walk well, eat efficiently or rear healthy offspring, therefore making that goat unsuitable for showing or breeding.  The editors interpretation of "very serious fault" is that it is a disqualification...."unsuitable for showing or breeding"...as stated above.

GENERAL APPEARANCE - USBGA:  The Boer goat is a meat animal and as such the general appearance should give an impression of size and strenth.  The bucks should be substantially larger than does with a broad chest, a strong back and smooth muscled rump.  Their head should be broad with a convex nose and horns that curve back.  Does should also appear broad with a firm stance, meaty chest and strong rump and thights; but with a more feminine appearance.  The overall appearance should be that of a strong, well built meat producer.

HEAD - ABGA: A prominent, strong HEAD with brown EYES, a gentle appearance.  NOSE with a gentle curve, wide NOSTRILS,  well formed MOUTH with well-opposed JAWS. Jaws must have no over or under bite from birth to 24 months.  1/4 inch under bite is allowed after 24 months.  Correct fit is preferred.  TEETH should erupt in the proper sequential positions.  FOREHEAD should be prominent and form an even curve linking the nose and horns. HORNS should be dark, round, strong, moderate length, positioned well apart and have a gradual backward curve before turning outward symmetrically.  EARS should be smooth of medium length and hang downward.

HEAD - IBGA-International:  Should have a strong HEAD, large brown gentle EYES, Roman nose and protruding forehead which makes a curving profile from the nostrils through the horns.  Viewed while facing the goat, the head is elongated triangle with a bottom point that is blunt and moderately wide.  It is not long and narrow as are the heads of some other breeds of goats.  Bottom JAW should be strong and deep.  NOSTRIL openings should be wide and set well apart.  HORNS should be strong, round, set wide apart with a gradual backward curve.  Horns should be set so that it may move its head freely.  TEETH of goats over three months old must touch the upper pad, except that the mouth of a goat over two years old may have a 1/4 inch gap between the teeth and the upper pad.  Nursing kids under three months old must have the base of their teeth lined up with the pad.  This provision allows for the tendency of kid's teeth to slant slightly forward during the period of time he is nursing.  Teeth should be rooted in the correct place along the lower jaw.....that is to say that permanent teeth should appear in correct sequence so that each pair is contiguous to the previous pair, not spaced out so that a baby tooth is present between two permanent teeth.  The lower JAW should not be shallow but should be of sufficient depth to be strong and should not come to a point but should be broad across the end.  EARS should be wide and pendulous, long enough to hang below the bottom line of the lower jaw.  A buck should have a larger, broader head than a doe, and his horns should be bigger around and longer.  Often he has wrinkles in the skin across the nose.  COLOR: The head may be completely red or have a white blaze in the face.  As a minimum, the head should have enough color to surround the eyes and cover 50% of the head.  The ears should ideally be 90% colored, but 50% coloring is acceptable if the skin under the white hair is pigmented.  The color of the hair may vary from light to dark red.

HEAD - USBGA:  Appearance: strong. Eyes: brown. Nose/forehead: Should have a smooth and continuous convex curve from the nose to the apex of the horn.   Horns: should be round, darkly colored, moderately to widely spaced. (Does may have their horns removed). Ears: are to be flat, hung smoothly along the side of the face, avoiding the eyes. The bottom tip may be folded.  Jaws: should not be pointed, pinched, undershot or overshot, must fit well together.  Both ears should have at least 75% red coloring to be ideal, 50% is acceptable if at least 75% of head area is colored.  The red on face should be at least 40% on both sides of the head, excluding the ears.  A totally red head, or a red head with a white blaze or white spot is ideal.  Red may range in shade from light to dark red, although orange, brown or reddish black will be accepted.

FAULTS/HEAD:

(ABGA): Faults: concave forehead, straight horns, jaw too pointed, overshot or undershot jaws..  Disqualifications:  Blue eyes, ears folded lengthwise, short ears, parrot mouth or more than 1/4 of an inch under bite.  

(IBGA-International): Serious defects: Horns that are too straight, horns that rub into the skin, a lower jaw that is so shallow it makes the goat's profile look pointed, ears that are too short, ears that protrude stiffly.  Very serious defects: Concave forehead, blue eyes, undershot jaw, overshot jaw, hare lip, ears that twist at the base so that the ear hangs folded for its entire length. 

(USBGA)- Slight to Serious Defects: horns too straight or too flat or too close together, pointed jaw or pinched jaw, stiff protruding ears or ears too short, lacking head color, folded ear when ear canal is not closed (uterine molding). Very Serious Defects: Concave forehead; folded ear when ear canal is involved and partially closed (inherited); overshot or undershot jaw.  Disqualifications: Blue eyes; crooked face.

NECK & FOREQUARTERS-ABGA: Moderate length NECK in proportion with body length. FOREQUARTERS full, well-fleshed, LIMBS well jointed and smoothly blended.  CHEST broad.  SHOULDERS fleshy and well proportioned with rest of body, smoothly blending and fitted into the withers.  WITHERS should be broad and well rounded, not sharp.  LEGS should be strong, well placed and in proportion with the depth of the body.  PASTERN joints should be strong and HOOVES well formed and as dark as possible.

NECK & FOREQUARTERS - IBGA-International:  NECK should connect at the top of the withers.  Neck should be moderately long in relation to the length of the body.  Bucks should have a masculine, heavily muscled neck.  Does should have a neck which is refined and feminine.  CHEST should be broad and deep without excessive flesh or excessive skin in the brisket.  (Packers in US consider excessive skin and flesh in that area a waste.) The breast bone should not protrude to make a sharp edge in front of the vertical line made by the forelegs, but should give the appearance of bein