First ADGA Linear Appraisal done

[hoofinitnorth]

Wow, what a learning experience! We had 16 goats evaluated and I highly recommend it to everyone! This, combined with showing, DHI milking, and AGS Classification earlier this year, is really helping us choose the path upon which we take our herd. We're going to be whittling down the herd to the very best and selling several of the animals that we dislike for this reason or that. While the final scores for all the animals we had appraised are below, there is much more information in the various breakdowns of where they were weak or strong.

Adults:
Sandy Hollow SS Butterscotch 3*D 3*M 87 VEEV (Very Good) - sixth-freshener, six-year-old doe
MCH Sandy Hollow UK Chesire Cat *S *B 89 VEE (Very Good) - five-year-old buck
Desertnanny Tequila Sunrise *D 1*M - NIC due to being due to deliver kids in 2 days
SilverAurora JT Villa Nova - NIC due to illness under care of veterinarian
SilverAurora JC WhisperSweetly 2*D 2*M 82 VVV+ (Good Plus) - third-freshener, three-year-old doe
SilverAurora TH Xbean 3*D 89 VEEV (Very Good) - first-freshener, two-year-old doe
SilverAurora TH Xenya *S 88 VVV (Very Good) - two-year-old buck
SilverAurora TH Xtreme Grace *D 86 VVVV (Very Good) - first-freshener, two-year-old doe
SilverAurora SB Yowza *S *B 84 +VV (Good Plus) - one-year-old buck
Fair Skies XK Yu'Pik Me *S 86 VVV (Very Good) - one-year-old buck

Young stock:
SilverAurora XR Yakutat VVVV (Very Good) - one-year-old doe
Fair Skies CC You'reGonnaLuvMe VVVV (Very Good) - one-year-old doe
SilverAurora XR Yipsy VVVV (Very Good) - one-year-old doe
Fair Skies XK Yantarni V+VV (Very Good) - one-year-old doe
My Kids Farm B. Say ItAin'tSo - NIC due to being due to deliver kids in 4 days (one of the babies made an appearance through her belly when we were looking at her - pushed their face straight out below her loin & behind her ribs lol!)
SilverAurora XR Yoohoo V+VV (Very Good) - one-year-old doe
SilverAurora XO Yancey V++V (Very Good) - seven-month-old doe
SilverAurora SB Yoel ++++ (Good Plus) - seven-month-old doe
SilverAurora XO Yoo Yoo V++V (Very Good) - seven-month-old doe

We left a few more young stock at home as they were all very little babies under 4 months of age or wethers-to-be. We had one other adult buck we brought since he was signed up for appraisal back in March, but we have since decided to sell him for meat/homesteader dual-purpose breeding. The appraiser looked at him but did not give an official score. It was nice to get more confirmation on our thoughts about him.

I really like both this program and the AGS Classification program. In the cases of the animals I entered in both, I had the same commentary from both evaluators so that was encouraging to me. I had some interesting things pointed out to me that I had not noticed before, particularly in the youngest of the young stock I brought. I hadn't shown a few of these animals yet and so hadn't clipped them and really taken a look at them since they arrived as little ones so it was nice to have someone go over them with me piece by piece.

[jBlaze]

Congratulations! I would love to have a linear apprasial! It just sounds so helpful and informative. Maybe I will get to next year.

[goatsareus]

Great scores!!!!!!!

[hoofinitnorth]

It will be a lot more helpful next time when I have more of my own kids grown enough for evaluation. As it was, I left all my kids from this year home and I am BUMMED about it. The appraiser was VERY pressed for time and didn't particularly like doing young stock anyway, so next time I'll have some milkers of my own breeding and several other juniors that will be at least a year old by then. Then I'll REALLY know if I'm on the right track.

This appraiser did say he was impressed with our breed up here and agreed with other past judges that said some would be very competitive nationally. The ADGA Linear Appraisal and AGS Classification processes certainly help us understand how our animals might fare against others they will never meet in the show ring, so they're very valuable tools. I am going to be studying all the bits and pieces to see where I can improve my herd overall and what lines will stay or go. I had already planned on selling a number of goats and now I have a better idea of which ones to let go and which ones to keep and why. There are a couple that are "on the bubble" so to speak, just because I have things I personally don't like about them but they have so many other good traits that I'd like to grow up some of their kids under a few different pairings and see how well I'm able to adjust those less than desirable traits for the better. One girl in particular, Gracie, is a bang-up first-freshener who has only recently been recognized in the show ring. She is beautiful but not as dairy and refined as I'd like. I want stronger feet and better foreudder blending but the thing that I am really struggling with right now are her teats. they are large enough to grasp comfortably, but they don't fill with milk like some of the better ones I've milked or seen so it's a lot of little squirts to empty her. Her udder texture is also somewhat meaty, as I've seen in my other part-Jobi-bred doe, Whisper. Gracie is stronger in her laterals and rear udder attachments, though, which saves her. She scored well this time and I suspect she'll score better as she gets more credit for age later, if she holds up, but this is the sort of thing that makes you think about where you want to go with your breeding program. Teats may only be 4 points on the show ring score card, but they can sure make or break your doe (or your hands)!