-- ABGA/USBGA/IBGA Standards Compared

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CHART of Lamb meat cuts

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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 being flat across.  SHOULDERS must fit snugly against the body leaving the withers broad and well-rounded.  The shoulder blades should not be visible above the line of the withers when the goat is standing with his head up.  When he walks with his head up, the shoulder blades should not move out from the body or move up too much above the line of the withers. FORELEGS should be straight, strong and of moderate length in proportion to the body.  Bucks should have a masculine foreleg with a heavier bone than that of a doe.  They should be set out at the corners of the goat's body and go straight down to the ground, so that the body is carried between the legs, not on top of the legs.  FOREARM should be well-muscled.  PASTERNS must be strong and short.  Age weakens pasterns, and hauling can cause a temporary flexibility of the pastern as can excessive weight, such as that of a heavy pregnancy.  Poorly trimmed hooves can make the pastern appear faulty.  In determining breeding values of a goat the producer can consider that the pastern weakness is temporary; the judge of a show, however, must appraise the goat by its appearance on the day of the show.  HOOFS must be dark and well-shaped.

NECK & FOREQUARTERS - USBGA:  In bucks the NECK should be well fleshed and of moderate length in proportion to the length of the body.  Does should have a more feminine extension of the neck.  The BREASTBONE should be wide and deep into the brisket.  The SHOULDERS should be wide and smooth across the top to demonstrate volume and rest flush against the withers.  The FRONT END assembly should be of sufficient height to be slightly elevated over the back.  FRONT LEGS should be straight and long enough to give sufficient height to front end assembly.  Front legs should be placed in correct proportion to the front end, and directly under the withers.  Front pastern should be short and straight.  A good balance between bone refinement and strength is essential.  Hooves should be black.  Feet should be strong with tight toes pointed directly forward with deep heels and the sole nearly uniform in depth from heal to toe.  animal should track with sufficient width between legs both fore and rear.

FAULTS/NECK & FOREQUARTERS:

(ABGA): Neck too long, too thick; Shoulders too loose; Any deformities or abnormalities in foreleg structure, muscle, bone, joint, or hoof.... to include but not limited to knock knees, bandy legs, hooves pointing outward or inward, splay toes, buck knees, hollow legs, straight or weak pasterns..

(IBGA-International):   Serious Defects: Neck too thin, too long, too short or set wrong, shoulders too loose, pasterns too long or too flexible, fine-boned legs, bowed legs, "knock knees", narrow chest, toes on the same foot that do not both point forward.  Very Serious Defects:  Extremely bowed legs or "knock knees", extremely deformed feet. 

(USBGA) - Slight to Serious Defects:  Loose, winged, or slightly open shoulders.  Narrow chest or pinched heart girth.  Neck too narrow or short in correlation with the body mass.  U neck in bucks or does.   Knees too close; Enlarged knees; Legs too fleshy or too thin;  Weak pasterns.  Very Serious Defects:  Severely open or loose shoulders.  Protruding breastbone.  Turned out or crooked feet;  Sprung pasterns; Bowed over knees;  A too long shank. 

BODY (BARREL) & HINDQUARTERS - ABGA: BODY should be boldly three-dimensional: long, deep and wide.  RIBS should be well sprung.  LOIN should be well muscled, wide and long.  The TOP LINE should be reasonably straight and strong and the SHOULDER well rounded with an abundance of muscle from shoulder through hip.  RUMP should be broad and long with a gentle slope.  BRITCH and THIGHS well muscled and rounded.  Base of the TAIL must be centered and straight.  The remainder of the tail can curve upward or to one side.  LEGS should be strong and the leg should have a straight axis from the hip (pin bones) through the hock, fetlock, and pastern.  HOOFS should be well-formed and as dark as possible.

BODY (BARREL) & HINDQUARTERS - IBGA-International:  BODY(BARREL) should be deep, long and wide with good spring of rib, rounded on the sides like a barrel, not flat like a box.  It is important that the body should not be pinched in just behind the shoulders.  This is where the long back muscle begins, and that muscle should be full at the point of attachment as well as along the rest of the back.  It is important that this backbone structure be wide as well as long and well covered with muscle.  The top line should be straight from the shoulder to the point of the hip, although a slight dip can be tolerated.  The back should be strong and not show signs of sagging in the middle.  The distance between the last rib and the front edge of the hip bone should be long; this is where the length of the loin is measured.  HINDQUARTERS: RUMP...the slope of the rump which begins on the top line at the point of the hips and goes to the tail should not be steep, and the distance between those two points should be long.  When looked at from the side the hind leg should be full and well-rounded extending all the way to the hock.  Viewed from the back the rump should be wide and full and deep.  Beginning from the hairless area around the tail and extending to the point at which the legs split apart is the "twist". A bucks twist should be long and the rump in that area should be wide and heavily muscled.  It is a plus if a doe also has some depth to her twist.  The doe will carry more femininity in her muscling then the buck.  SHANK: the shank of the hind leg should be muscled on both the outside and inside of the leg bone.  A Boer goat should have good width between the hocks, and the hocks should point straight back, not in, or out.  HIND LEG: should have a slight angle and not be entirely straight up and down from the hip through the hock and the pastern.  That angle should not be too acute, however.  PASTERNS must be short and strong.  When the animal walks the feet should move straight ahead.  TAIL should come straight out from the dock and not be carried to one side or the other.  The hairless skin around the anal area ideally should be 100% pigmented, but it must be at least 75% pigmented.  In kids under 4 months old 50% pigmentation is acceptable.  Pigmentation is present if that skin area is any shade of color from light tan to black.  Lack of pigmentation causes the skin in that area to be pink.  The purpose of this requirement is to prevent cancer of the skin from sun damage.

BODY(BARREL) & HINDQUARTERS: - USBGA:  BODY: no statement. RIBS: no statement. LOINS: wide, long, well covered. TOPLINE: Back should be broad and long..  Slight dip behind withers is permissible to allow rotation. SHOULDERS: wide and smooth across top to demonstrate volume and should rest flush against the withers. RUMP: long, slightly level. HINDQUARTERS should have good extension to fully fleshed THIGHS. Thighs should be round, well muscled, and extend far down the back leg. PIN BONES should be wide and well placed. TAIL: must be straight where it grows out of the dock and swing to either side. LEGS: Back legs should be set wide apart and straight when viewed from the rear with clean hocks.    Rear legs should be nearly perpendicular from hocks to pasterns viewed from the side. Rear pasterns should be short to medium length. Good balance between bone refinement and strength essential.   Should track with sufficient width between legs both fore and rear. HOOFS:  black, strong, tight toes, pointed forward, deep heels and sole nearly uniform in depth from heal to toe.  Feet should be strong with tight toes pointed directly forward with deep heels and the sole nearly uniform in depth from heal to toe.     

FAULTS/BODY(BARREL & HINDQUARTERS:

(ABGA): Faults:  Neck too short or too thin; shoulders too loose, and any structural muscle, bone, joint, or hoof deformities or abnormalities, to include but not limited to bandy legs, hooves pointing outward or inward, splay toes,  hollow legs.  Concave or swayback; chest too narrow or shallow or flat; shoulders weakly attached; inadequate muscle through the back and loin, pinched heart girth.  Weak or straight pasterns, rump too steep, sicle-hocked, cow-hocked, post legs.  Disqualifications:  Wry tail.

(IBGA-International):  Serious Defects: Narrow back, pinched-in heart girth, swayback, short loin, flat sides, shallow body.  Hindquarters that come to a screwdriver point, steep rump, short hips, not enough muscling in the rump or hip, a hip muscle that fails to come down to the hock leaving a portion of the shank bare of meat, hocks that come together ("cow hocked") or bow apart (sickle hocked), weak pasterns, badly shaped feet or feet that point in or out.  A hind leg which is too straight (post legged) or too sharply angled.  A rayed tail (one that is carried to one side or the other).  Very Serious Defects:  Extreme swayback, extremely pinched-in heart girth, lack of a substantial long back muscle when the goat is in good condition.  Extremely cow hocked or sickle hocked hind legs, extremely weak pasterns, extremely deformed feet, lack of sufficient meat on its hindquarters when the goat is in good condition.     

(USBGA): Slight to Serious Defects: Loin too narrow or short or lacking cover.  Lacking length or covering throughout. Wry or broken tail.  Pin bones too narrow; Legs too fleshy or too thin; weak pasterns.     Very Serious Defects:  Swayback;  Steep rump;  Flat hindquarters or rump;  Hind legs too close together .

SKIN AND COVERINGS-ABGA: SKIN loose and supple.  PIGMENT:  Eyelids and other hairless areas must be pigmented.  Hairless areas under the tail should be at least 75% pigmented:  100% is preferred.  HAIR:  Short glossy hair is disireable.  A limited amount of winter down or under-coat will be accepted during winter, especially in colder environments.

SKIN AND COVERINGS-IBGA-International: The SKIN should be loose and supple because this is an indication of the goat's ability to grow.  PIGMENT:  Eyelids and hairless parts of the body should be 100% pigmented, but 75% is acceptable.  For kids under 4 months old 50% pigmentation is acceptable.  HAIR should be short.  A soft fur-like cashmere which grows under and through the hair is acceptable in winter.  If the goat has been in cold climates this cashmere may be more abundant.

SKIN AND COVERINGS-USBGA:    SKIN loose and supple with sufficient folds over the neck and chest, especially in bucks. Eyelids and hairless areas must be pigmented. Hairless skin under the tail should have 75% pigmentation for stud purposes with 100% ideal. HAIR: short glossy hair is desirable showing freedom from coarseness. Limited amount of winter down will be tolerated during winter months.

FAULTS/SKIN AND COVERINGS:

(ABGA) -  Faults:  Hair too long or too coarse.  Disqualifications:  Not enough skin pigmentation.  Any extreme occurrence of an undesirable trait.  

(IBGA-International):..none listed.   

USBGA -Slight to Serious Defects:  Skin too tight;  Course hair texture;  Hair too long;  Tail with less than 50% pigmentation in does.  Very Serious Defects:  Tail with less than 50% pigmentation in bucks; Pink eyelids;  Pink tail on does; Skin too lightly pigmented.  Disqualifying Defects:  Pink tail on bucks;  Solid white buck or doe;  Solid black, black & white, or black head on buck or doe.

COLORATION-ABGA: The preferred Boer goat is an animal with red hair on the head and ears and white on the remainder of the body but other coloration's are acceptable.  (Ennoblement program is more specific regarding acceptable colorations.)

COLORATION-IBGA-International:  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.

COLORATION-USBGA:  .The body should ideally be white, but 20% spotting or coloration is permitted.  Solid colors, other than white and black, will not be discriminated against.   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/COLORATION:

(ABGA) - No faults or disqualifications listed.

(IBGA-International): - No coloration defects mentioned. 

(USBGA) -  Slight to Serious Defects:  Lacking color on head.  Disqualifying Defects:  Solid white buck or doe;  Solid black, black & white, or black head on buck or doe.

REPRODUCTION ORGANS-ABGA: Does should have well formed udders with good attachment with the number of functional teats not to exceed two per side.  A split teat with two distinctly separated teats and openings with at least 50% of the body of teat separated is permissible but teats without a split are preferred.  It is most important that the udder is constructes so that the offspring are able to nurse unassisted.  Does must have kidded or exhibited pregnancy by 24 months of age.  Bucks must have two large well formed, functional, equal sized testes in a single scrotum with no more than a 2" split in the apex of the scrotum.

REPRODUCTION ORGANS-IBGA-International: DOES--A doe should have a well-developed udder which is firmly attached, not hanging low with pendulous teats.  Boer goats were developed to produce multiple kids.  For this reason South African producers selectively bred them to have more than the two teats that other goats have in order to feed triplets and quadruplets.  One or more functional teats on each side are acceptable.  A split teat is acceptable if it is not joined for more than 50% of its length.  BUCKS--A buck should have two well formed, approximately equal-sized testes in a single scrotum with a well developed epididymis at the bottom of each testicle and a clean cord connected to the apex of each testicle.  A split of no more than 1 inch of the scrotum is acceptable.  The size of the testes vary with age and season, but the circumference should be large enough to indicate fertility and libido.

REPRODUCTION ORGANS-USBGA:  The DOES should hve a well-formed mammary system.  It should consist of good attachment and no more than two separated functional teats per side of udder.  A functional teat has an orifice in it.  Ideally, does hould have one teat per udder half.  The BUCKS should have two large well-formed equal size testes in a single scrotum.  The apex of the scrotum may hve a split no longer than 1 inch.  Scrotal circumference varies with the age of the buck.  The normal circumference is 10 inches on a yearling buck and 12 inches on a two year old buck.  Teat structure on the male shoud consist of no more than two separated teats per side.  Ideally, bucks should have one teat per side.

FAULTS/REPRODUCTION ORGANS:

(ABGA): Faults:  Udder and teat abnormalities or defects to include but not limited to oversized or bulbous teats, pendulous udder.   Disqualifications:  Any extreme occurrence of an undesireable tait is a disqualification.  Cluster teats, fishtail teats or a doe that has not kidded or exhibited signs of pregnancy by 24 months of age.  Single Testicle, Testicles too small.  Abnormal or diseased testes; more than 2 inch split in the scrotum.     

(IBGA-International): Serious defects: Does...a split teat joined for more than 50% of its length, a double teat which does not separate but has a double-wide end which is too large for the newborn kid to suckle, a cluster of teats too close together to be suckled successfully.  Very serious defects:  Bucks...Small or abnormal testes, a split in the scrotum of more than 1 inche, nodules on the cords connected to the testes.   Most serious defects:  Does...Any teat formation which would present a hazard to a newborn kids' survival.   Bucks...One testicle or no testicles.

(USBGA):  Slight to Serious Defects: Testicles that twist while buck walks.  Very Serious Defects:  More than 2 teats per side on a doe.  Small or abnormal testicles.  Scrotal split more than 1 inch.  Disqualifying Defects:  More than 2 teats per side on a buck.  Split teat with two distinctly separated milk ducts divided less than 75% on bucks or does.  Bunched or cluster teats on bucks or does.

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