Welcome to our blog. Check back often for official news and announcements from the KGBA and articles on various topics of Kinder goat care, raising, breeding, showing and more!
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Milk Testing
Thank you, Sue Huston, for this wonderful article on milk testing:
How much milk is that Kinder doe giving? Just because she feed three kids are her udder looks full are maybe you are milking three does and the gallon bucket is about full with this specific doe probably giving half of this. Is this your answer to the quantity of milk this doe is milking? If so then you really don’t have any idea to the milking ability of this doe.
You don’t think that the amount of milk being given by a certain doe is important? Well it may not seem important as long as you are getting enough milk for the family are the kids seem to be growing well. If you are selling Kinder stock then the real milking ability in you herd is very important and you need facts to prove each and every does milking capability. You might have someone looking for does to milk in a diary situation. You would be more likely to make a sale if you had the figures on all your does giving not only the quantity of milk but also the amount of butterfat and protein. Kinder does in general have higher butterfat content than many of the other breeds which make them great candidates for cheese plants.
There are several options available to those interested in milk testing. There is individual official testing, group testing and one-day testing. Each will give you official test results. If you cannot afford any of these then just keeping personnel records would certainly be better than not testing. The KGBA can furnish forms for your personnel use. There will be links with discussion on the official tests available in the following paragraphs. I thought you might be interested in reading this web page:
How to Get Started on DHI Milk Test with ADGA.
http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/showthread.php?t=136415&referrerid The Kinder Association use the same rules for DHIR testing as ADGA so for a Kinder doe to earn her star she must meet the same requirements as that of an ADGA doe. Please view each of the videos in the link above whether you plan to do DHIR testing or not. Langston does such a wonderful job and offers so much for breeders.
You can decide on official testing, group testing or one-day testing to prove the milking ability of your herd. I think official milk testing has been explained fully in the link above. If there are 3 or more breeders in your area that all wish to become testers then they can test each other’s herds monthly OR you can each do the Owner/Sampler Test Option and run Verification Tests on each other’s herds. There are breeders, having a friend living near by to become an official tester, that friend can then come to test their herd. Testing can be done at shows too making it possible for several breeders to participate in a one-day testing.
I hear so much about record keeping programs. Milk testing is a great program for record keeping for your herd. Not only are you proving the milking ability of that doe but that buck and all those daughters and sons in the line.
One-Day Test is considered a separate event, which requires a separate sanction and registration fee. Contact KGBA regarding these fees. Points in One-Day Testing are earned by the quantity of milk produced, length of time since kidding and butterfat content. A Kinder doe must earn 18 points or more to earn a star in One-Day Testing. Below is the system used to calculate these points.
Milk Point System
One point per pound of milk produced, calculated to within one decimal point.
One-tenth (0.1) point for every complete 10-day period that the doe has been in milk since her last kidding, with a maximum of three and six tenths (3.6) points or 360 days.
One point for every five one-hundredths (0.05) pounds of butterfat yielded.
Milk weighs about 8.4 lbs. per gallon. Below are the figures from a 2000 One-Day Test. Notice that only one doe receives enough points (18 or more) to make her star. The other does scores are good and ones that I am proud of. These are official scores and prove that these Kinder does are good milking does even if they did not make their stars. Ebony milked about 1-½ gallons in One-Day Testing with a total of 22.7 points thus making her star
Milking testing is the only way to prove that your Kinder does are truly good milking Kinder.
Sue Huston
What’s New!?!
Hello Everyone!
The KGBA Board has had an exciting and busy start to the year, and we are hard at work trying to make the KGBA Association better than ever! We have some fresh new faces on the Board, and some exciting changes right around the corner. Some of the things that you should be seeing soon are:
A NEWSLETTER – After stalling last year, our newsletter is back on track, and coming soon to a mailbox near you (well, your mailbox, actually…). A special thanks to Jeanette Woods and Laura Kennett for working so hard to create past newsletters – I know you both did a ton of work, and they were awesome!
HERD EVALUATIONS – Tom Considine will be on the road this summer, and has graciously offered to come to farms within a certain radius of his show route for no additional traveling fee. We will be posting his route soon!
WEBSITE – We are updating the website with a fresh face and lots of new information. Please check back regularly, as this will be an ongoing project.
CALENDAR – We hope to put out a calendar this year, including photos submitted by members of all your beautiful Kinder goats. More details coming soon!
Please check back often to the Communique and the website – We would love ideas, suggestions and pictures!!! We can always use more photos of registered Kinder goats for the website, newsletters and future promotional materials. If you want to donate pictures that you have taken of your own registered Kinders, please send photos to: sue@jabeck.com **
We look forward to hearing from all of you, and to sharing a great new year of growth, goats and good times!
Warm Regards,
Sue Beck
KGBA President
**By sending photos, you are agreeing to have them posted on the website with no compensation other than bragging rights. Depending on how many we receive, your photos may or may not be used, but we’ll also be posting pics to the communique in mini “breed brags,” so watch for them there, too!
Don’t Wait – Register Your Goats!
As springs nears, the number of registration applications for new kids increases dramatically. It is extremely exciting to see how many new Kinder kids are being born, the increase in new herds, and the increased interest in our membership. This is a great time of growth for the Kinder Association and our little goats, and we couldn’t be happier about it. But as you breed, buy and sell your Kinders, please remember how important it is to make sure that all of your paperwork is current and cmplete.
On occasion, we run into issues with applications, and those problems are inevitably compounded if the goats in question have been sold or bred. PLEASE REGISTER YOUR GOATS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! It is not good practice to offer your bucks for buck service if they have not yet been registered, nor is it a good idea to sell kids as “registered” or “registerable” if their parents do not yet have papers. It is our responsibility as reputable breeders to supply buyers with all the information and documentation necessary to register their new goats. This includes ensuring that our own bucks and does are registered BEFORE we breed them, and certainly before selling their offspring, so that all paperwork can be completely quickly and without problems.
If you are buying new goats, the best way to protect yourself from problems is to require either:
A. The goats you are buying are registered, and you receive the registration(s) and signed transfer at the time of purchase.
B. Both parents are registered, and you receive copies of their registrations, a signed transfer, and a completed registration application for your new kid at the time of purchase.
If you purchase or breed to goats with “pending” registrations, the KGBA can not guarantee that your goats will actually be registrable with the association, so please protect yourselves – make sure that all paperwork is in order before you buy or breed!
The KGBA Board of Directors welcome any and all questions related to buying, selling, and breeding Kinders, and are happy to help you in any way we can. Please feel free to contact us at any time… we’re happy to help!
Meat yields on the dual purpose Kinder Goat
The Kinder is a dual purpose goat used for both milk and meat. The meat aspect has been neglected by many breeders. Our beloved Kinders have become more dairy in type sacrificing meat production for milk production. While for many milk is all they want, a breeder needs to keep in mind the fact that usually about half the kids are bucks. Not all bucks should be kept as bucks. On average only 1 out of 10 is truly buck quality. What do you do with the rest of those darling little fellows. True, you can wether them and sell them as pets or brush clearers but that market saturates fast.
In our area there are a couple of meat goat buyers. They pay by the pound and their price depends on the type of goat. Dairy kids bring less per pound that meat kids. I have worked on my marketing with the meat goat buyer I use and he knows that my kids pack meat. I am now getting the same price per pound for my Kinder boys as he pays for the Boer kids.
If you are planning on slaughtering any kids this year please keep records and let me know what the live weight, carcass weight and actual meat weight wrapped is.
The chart below will show some of the yields that come from well bred Kinder kids.
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Kinder goat carcass yields
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Live wt. lbs
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hanging wt lbs
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boneless meat lbs
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Doe SH
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120
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59
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33
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Doe SH
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140
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71
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41
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Doe SH
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134
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62
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32
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Wether SH
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61.5
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30
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18
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Doe SH
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135
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67
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39
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Doe SH
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138
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68
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39
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GJ Wether
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82
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41
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23
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GJ Buck 17 mos
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170
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90
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45
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GJ Doe 18 mos
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99
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47
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30
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GJ doe 9 mos
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95
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43
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26
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GJ Crytorchid 6 mos
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92
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51
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35
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GJ Buck 7 mos
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89
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49
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32
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GJ Wether 7 mos
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80
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44
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30
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GJ Buck 7 mos
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70
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39
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23
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For more information on Kinders as meat goats look in the blog archives in 2012 October Kinders as Meat goats.
Jean Jajan
Selling Kinder® Products
On September 25th of last year, the KGBA board made an announcement regarding the sales of products labeled with the Kinder® name. In the announcement, we asked that people considering selling such products apply for a license to do so through our association. Upon further consideration, we have decided NOT to ask our members for a licensing agreement when selling Kinder labeled products.
As your board, one of our top goals and responsibilities is to promote and propagate the Kinder goat breed. In order to do this, we count on our members’ help. After all, our best marketing tools are our goats, our members, and the products that they create together!
We want to make it as easy as possible for members to advertise, register and sell their goats. We also want to make it as easy as possible to benefit from owning Kinder goats. Hopefully, removing licensing requirements from members’ Kinder® products will do this.
Please feel free to contact any board members with questions or comments regarding this change. We hope that the decision will encourage even more of our members to help show the world why Kinders really are the greatest goats on Earth!
Have You Hugged A Goat Today?
With cold weather and shorter days upon us, spending time in the barn and fields becomes a lot less inviting. Rushing to feed, water and milk our goats and get back inside before we freeze can cause us to overlook abnormalities in our goats behavior, or attribute them to the cold weather. That is why, now more than at any other time of year, it is important to hug your goats… even the boys! Er, well, at least a good rub down every week.
To ensure that you have a strong, healthy herd when kidding season arrives, we need to make sure they stay that way all winter. Weight loss and poor condition can come on quickly, and can often stay hidden under thick winter coats until it is too late to correct the problem. Most herds are just coming off the stress of breeding season, some are pregnant, some are milking, and most are dealing with less than ideal weather conditions. And sure… the boys are stinky and the girls are crabby, but do your goats a favor – go give them a hug anyway!
Disclaimer: The opinions, views, and thoughts expressed by newsletter and blog contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Kinder® Goat Breeders Association. Goat husbandry advice found in the newsletter and blog is not meant to substitute a valid veterinary relationship. Please request permission to share or reprint newsletter and blog posts.