Kinder Goat Breeders Association

KGBA

Conformation

Choosing a Herdsire

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We’ve all heard it a million times – your buck is the most important animal in your herd. The buck contributes 50% of the genes of every kid he sires and determines the overall pregnancy rate of the herd. Good breeding stock is fundamental to a quality goat breeding operation. By choosing the right buck, you can improve conformation and increase milk production, growth rates, and meat qualities in the kid crop. Improving these qualities will not only make the kids more valuable, but will equate to a healthier herd that saves you money on feed, vet bills, and replacement costs.

It is also important to choose the bucks you believe will improve the breed in general! In recent years, we’ve seen an enormous upsurge in the Kinder breeder’s desire to produce quality animals that excel on the homestead, in the milk room, and in the show ring. Many Kinders now have improved milk production and conformation over some of the original animals admitted into the registry. Yet, there are still large discrepancies in the quality between various lines and herds and their offspring – so where do you begin?

Choosing a breeding buck can be very challenging. Every spring brings a surplus of bucklings, many of which will be sold as potential herdsires. They are all darling little boys, but how do you decide which ones will help you meet your breeding goals?

First, make specific herd and breeding program goals. Write them down! When I sell a goat, I ask the buyer what they want in their herd and, more often than not, they don’t really know. They might know they want a hearty, medium-sized, dual-purpose goat but haven’t given more thought to what else is most important on their farm or homestead. Considering YOUR priorities prior to purchasing a herdsire is critical when it comes to your overall success as a breeder.

To determine what you want, ask yourself some questions –
Do you want your does to raise their own kids without requiring additional bottle feeding? If so, you may not want a buck from lines that produce quads and quints.
Do you live in an area where parasites are a serious issue? Goats and herds that are resistant and resilient to parasites should be high priority, as should be breeders who keep deworming records.

Do you expect your goats to travel and climb over large, rough areas to browse? Then potential breeding stock cannot afford to have poor quality feet and legs.
Will you be hand-milking? Teat and orifice size might be very important to you.

It is easy to want it all, but be realistic and choose two or three things that are most the most important starting points, to you. Once you decide what your primary goals are, take a long, hard look at your does. What do you love about them? What would you like to change? You want your buck and his parents to excel in the areas that you want to improve. Once again, try to pick just two or three important things you want to improve on now; you can always work on other things later.

Now that you have decided which qualities are most important in your new buck, you can begin your search. Begin by finding breeders whose priorities and management style closely resemble your own. A breeder that is successfully managing their herd in the way you do or plan to should have offspring that will thrive in a comparable environment and should easily transition into their new home with you.

Ask lots of questions. Good breeders will keep good records on milk quantities, growth rates, ease of kidding in various lines, results for disease testing, show records, deworming records etc. and will be happy to share them with you. Never hesitate to ask for documentation to back up a breeder’s claims.

After finding a breeder or two that you would like to work with, it is time to pick your buck! Here’s where things get difficult – ignore their colors! It is always fun to get a goat that is super-flashy or your favorite color, but try not to let those things “color” your decision – haha! Assess the bucks by conformation first, paying special attention to avoid weaknesses already in your herd or doe. If the buck has been evaluated, make sure that an area where your herd is weak is one of the buck’s strong points. For example, if it is a priority to improve legs, look for a buck with an Excellent or Very Good in the General Appearance category and high scores in the legs and feet sections.

By now, you should have your choices narrowed down to just a few boys. At this point, research the relatives of potential herdsires. Relatives should be goats that you would love to have in your own herd. Never buy a buck from poor quality parents in hopes that he will be an improvement over them! Your potential buck’s relatives should be well-balanced with good conformation and adhere closely to the breed standard. Do they have the qualities that you listed as top priorities? Are they strong in areas where your herd is weak?

Additionally, remember that the most expensive buck is not always the best buck, and the most well-known herds may not be the best fit for you. Know the direction you are going with your herd and wait for the right buck. As with your entire breeding program, planning, time, and patience pay off in the end when choosing a herdsire.

By Sue Beck

Whether or Not to Wether?

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Every baby goat is perfectly adorable, but none are perfect, and some are more suited to be herd sires than others. Selling lots of bucklings as future sires is tempting. It is natural to want to recoup expenses after you’ve invested so much in buying, raising, and breeding your does. When 7 of your 10 kids are boys, what else can you do? Selling as many boys as possible as intact bucklings is definitely the easiest answer, but it is usually not the best for you or your buyers.

In order to continue to make advances within your herd and in the breed, only the best males should be used as breeding stock. Lesser-quality boys should ideally be culled, meaning that they should be wethered and sold as pets, weed-eaters, or go into the freezer. Selling lesser-quality bucks is never a good idea – it could set someone’s breeding program back years. Don’t forget that that poor quality buck and all of his offspring will have your name on their papers. If you are unsure of the quality of a buck, protect your reputation by erring on the side of caution and wethering him.

So, how do you decide which bucklings should be sold as breeding stock?

Promising bucklings, with good width, muscle, and rear arch.

First, make a list of your best does. These should be does that have evaluated as excellent, earned milk stars or have records of excellent milk production and long lactations, have performed well in the show ring, kid easily, maintain their weight well throughout pregnancy and lactation, and adhere closely to the breed standard. Yes, that is a lot of qualifications! Ideally, any bucklings you sell as breeding stock should be out of these does. As a general rule, only 10% of boys AT MOST should be kept intact. Since breeders with lots of experience and very high-quality lines often sell more than 10% of their males as breeding stock, new, inexperienced breeders should probably be selling less than 10% of theirs. This means that the bucklings you sell should only be from outstanding does and bucks.

Next, make a list of the bucklings out of the does you’ve designated as your best. Immediately remove any boys that have faults as described by the breed standard. Omit bucklings that are narrow, frail, or otherwise lacking qualities you look for in a buck. Now look at the boys left on your list. Determine which bucklings adhere most closely to the breed standard and embody the ideals of a quality Kinder buck – they should be reasonably big, well-developed kids that have good length of body, broad backs, good depth, and well-sprung rib cages. Overall, the bucklings on your list should have good, strong balance and already appear more masculine than your other kids. Watch them closely as they develop, noting which ones continue to impress you. Immediately rule out any kids that develop faults, grow more slowly, or loose width and muscling as they develop. 

A buckling that should not be kept intact. Too narrow, leggy, and dairy.

Never keep a buckling intact based on color or because he is your sweet bottle baby!

While personality should definitely be considered when choosing who to keep intact – no one wants an aggressive buck – conformation and quality should always come first. Although everyone seems to love flashy kids, your buyers will appreciate that you sold them a quality buck instead of a just a colorful one in the long run.

By Sue Beck

Let’s Talk About Width

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I think we all love to look at a Kinder that’s chunky with lots of width, but how do we tell how much of that width is structural and genetic and how much is related to the level of condition they are in? Understanding a bit more about this question can help us avoid buying a goat based on its width alone while ignoring conformation negatives. It will also help us not to pass over a goat that may not currently show a lot of width but has great conformation over all, meets the Kinder goat breed standard, and is likely, if body condition is improved, to develop that lovely chunk and width we’re looking for in a dual purpose goat.

Lately, I’ve seen a number of goats posted that seem to show a lot of width and folks comment that it’s “structural width,” but I beg to differ and here’s why. I have a lovely mother and daugh­ter from a lovely line of Kinders. They both tend towards meatiness, hold their condition well except for a while when feeding large numbers of babies, and generally are lovely examples of dual-purpose goats. I’ve got photos that show front ends that you could drive a bulldozer through and photos that show the very same goats looking almost narrow. We’ve collected some photos showing the same goat showing vastly different amounts of width to illustrate this point.

Think about it a moment. Let’s think of humans, for example. Let’s imagine two young girls, both slender, who while growing to childbearing age eat differ­ently and end up at different levels of body condition. We wouldn’t expect the one who weighs more to give birth to babies who carry genes for a wider bone structure, right? We wouldn’t expect her babies to be genetically/structur­ally wider just because the mother has consumed more calories than needed and is carrying extra weight on her frame, right? Now apply this principle to goats. That chunky two-month-old kid you’re considering is not more likely to produce babies of great width just because she’s a little butterball from getting more milk and grain than that other kid in the herd whose mother is feeding quads or producing less milk. In fact, her extra fat makes it more likely that you’ll miss seeing structural flaws if your eye is untrained. Just as we need to avoid “color blindness” (the propensity to be attracted to a goat’s color and not notice its structural flaws) when assess­ing goats, we also need to avoid “condi­tion blindness” (the propensity to think that a fat little buckling is going to bring the genetics for width into our breeding program).

Extra body fat at any age will tend to smooth out how a goat looks and help hide some flaws. It can be a mistake to think that a herd of fat goats is closer to the dual-purpose body style we’re looking for in Kinders. A better way to judge where a goat is on the meat/dairy spectrum is looking at substance (thickness) of bone, whether leg bones and ribs are more flat (dairy) or more round (meat), and pay­ing attention to propor­tions of body parts. Long necks and long legs tend to indicate a more dairy body type, while blocki­ness of body, meatiness of hind end, shorter neck, and thickness of bone indicate the meat end of the spectrum.

When we compare kids at different farms, it’s important to pay attention to how they are fed. Bottle-fed kids who are fed as much as they are interested in drinking will look fatter and wider than dam-raised kids who are often get­ting less milk. Remember, if a doe is capable of giving a gallon of milk a day and you take a half gallon at morning milking, that leaves only a half gallon to divide among her kids for the rest of the day. It’s no wonder that bottle fed babies sometimes grow faster and fatter than dam-raised babies do. Don’t think that the bottle-fed baby who shows that chunkiness now is necessarily more capable of bringing width to your breed­ing program than a dam-raised baby who perhaps isn’t as chunky now but might actually carry more genetic width to pass on to her/his offspring.

So how do we avoid misjudging width when buying a goat? Try looking at the parents, ask about feed amounts, look at older siblings, etc. Yes, there are some herds that have all ages in a higher level of condition than is optimally healthy, and their high condition can give the impression that these are meatier goats, but think it through and look at the body proportions, bone substance, etc. Expect herds that are on dry lots eat­ing out of mangers all year to look dif­ferent than goats that are walking out to pasture and back, avoiding bugs, and constantly on the move.

Maybe looking for width is something we do partly because it’s easier to assess than other aspects of correct conforma­tion are; but if your goal is breed and herd improvement, it’s going to help more if you can assess all aspects of conformation rather than chunk fac­tor alone. Yes, we want width, but extra condition can be mistaken for width, and mistaking extra body fat for meati­ness and correct conformation won’t help us reach our goals for our herds.

By Kathrin Bateman

Linebreeding Case Study: Still Meadow Kinders

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1) What are your particular breeding goals for your herd, beyond a healthy herd that reflects the Kinder Breed Standard? 

For me, in addition to a correct animal that displays appropriate breed type, function is truly key. At the end of the day, I want my Kinders both to produce enough milk to be a competitive dairy animal for their size and to efficiently convert feed into a quickly developing and muscular carcass. 

2) What do you see as the general pros and cons of linebreeding?

Linebreeding intensifies and solidifies traits. Its primary goal is to influence consistency. Unfortunately, this does not mean only positive traits, but negative ones as well. While breeding should always be done with careful thought and clear goals, linebreeding even more so. Ultimately it is a tool that should be wielded carefully, as it has the potential to improve or weaken the resulting offspring.

Please offer an example of a linebreeding you have chosen to do.

Still Meadow Diego. This 3.5 year-old buck is the result of a close linebreeding (sire bred to his own dam). [See pedigree.]

4) What was your reasoning behind this particular match? 

After having Diego’s dam for many years and being familiar with her strengths and weaknesses, as well seeing a lot of positive qualities in her son Rusty’s offspring, I decided to experiment with breeding them together to solidify their numerous similar and ideal qualities. In general I prefer to be as familiar as possible with a goat and its lines before experimenting with heavy linebreeding.

  • Rusty
  • Daisy

5) How did the offspring turn out? Did you get what you wanted?

Arguably, Diego turned out very well. I’d like to see more levelness hip to pin and straighter front legs (he turns out), and he lost a bit of size compared to his immediate family, but otherwise I’m extremely pleased with him. As a sire he’s been very interesting. He nearly universally adds width throughout (including rump width), heaviness of bone, and muscling to his kids. But he doesn’t seem to affect much else. He has a pretty decent topline but didn’t seem to pass that on to any of his kids. Whatever the dam was like, the kids took after her. I noticed that tendency to a much lesser extreme in his sire (influencing levelness in toplines and rumps). Tightening those genetics definitely led to a more pronounced bend toward (not) affecting levelness. To be fair, Diego has not seemed to make any kid worse from my observation; he just lends no improvement whatsoever in that area. 

6) What traits will lead you to decide to cull an animal, and how does line breeding affect your willingness to cull?

Any fault or extreme weakness in any area of conformation and type could be a reason to cull. I’m quicker to cull for poor udders and substandard milk production, as well as lacking muscularity and general meatiness. But it depends on each individual and whether that goat has enough positive qualities to be worth keeping in the Kinder gene pool. 

7) How do you personally balance linebreeding with outcrossing and at what point do you decide to outcross?

 I regularly outcross for various reasons (including maintaining genetic diversity). I tend to outcross when I’m trying to bring in traits I need to improve on, and I linebreed when I’m trying to cement in the qualities I like and want more consistency in.

8) If you are also buying or breeding first gens, what are your strategies for introducing terrific new genetics that don’t derail the traits you have linebred to achieve?

I chose to focus on a few select traits when picking Nubians and Pygmies for my first generation lines. I went with heavy-boned, well-muscled animals (particularly in the Nubians) that displayed a lot of capacity and matured early. I paired that with nice udders and heavy production while avoiding extreme faults such as overly steep rumps, overly weak chines, etc. My first gen kids so far have been displaying the best of these traits, with few and mild weaknesses throughout. I intend to use them to influence better udders and higher milk production in my existing lines, while complementing my general style (heavy, efficient meat traits).

By Elizabeth Sweet and Ashley Kennedy

A Breeder’s Toolbox: Crossbreeding, Outcrossing, Linebreeding, Inbreeding

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When Kinders are born and bred on our property, we become Kinder breeders. That project is exciting and endlessly interesting! Most of us keep in mind how breeding strategies can help us achieve our goals not only in our own herds but also on behalf of the Kinder breed as a whole. There is a place for different approaches at different times and even on the same farm.

Pygmy breeder Maxine Kinne reminds us of a vital point that holds regardless of the approach we choose, “A cardinal rule of selective breeding is that two goats with the same fault are never mated.” Instead, breed a goat that is weak in one area with another that is correct in that area. For instance, breed a doe with a weak chine to a buck with a level topline. Keep in mind a mental picture of the kind of Kinder you are breeding to achieve, adding animals to your herd that help you to achieve that goal.

As you work toward the herd you want to see, you have several options by way of breeding strategies and may well decide to utilize more than one strategy in your breeding program. What follows is a nontechnical discussion of these. In case you want to take a deeper dive into how genetics work, plunge into the list of helpful resources that follows this article.

Crossbreeding First Gens

Crossbreeding refers to mating goats from two different breeds, with each individual carefully selected with goals for the resulting offspring in mind. The Kinder gene pool is still small, which is why the work that a number of Kinder breeders are doing in breeding first generation kids is so important. Carefully chosen Pygmy bucks and Nubian does can lead to some very promising first generation kids that grow up to produce some very nice second generation kids. Yet there is still likely to be more variability among the kids who are born than there will be among Kinders that have been thoughtfully paired over several generations. Occasional lanky kids may hearken back to their Nubian parent or grandparent, for instance, while others inherit a smaller Pygmy-type udder with less capacity rather than their dam’s or grand dam’s capacious Nubian udder. That said, enlarging the Kinder gene pool is critical work done on behalf of the future success of the breed. Here you can find more information on breeding first generation kids.

Outcrossing

Outcrossing is the term for breeding two animals (of the same breed) that do not share common ancestors for four or more generations back in their pedigrees. Because Kinders are a young breed, when we examine our Kinders’ pedigrees, we often find common ancestors, especially the farther back we look, because the gene pool was smaller. But for each generation we move backward, the amount of genetic material contributed by any one ancestor is halved. You, for example, have half your genetic material from each parent, 1/4 from each grandparent, 1/8 from each great grand parent, 1/16 from each great great grandparent, and so forth.

In an article originally published in Dairy Goat Journal, Alice Hall sums describes the outcomes of outcrossing:

If the breeder is working with heterozygous (relatively genetically diverse) parents, he might end up with any number of combinations in the kid. The results would be very unpredictable. This is what happens with outcrossing or cross-breeding. The kid would be a combination of all kinds of genes, only the dominant of which would show. The breeder would have no idea what recessive genes are masked in the genotype of the kid. A breeder can continue to keep the recessives masked and work with dominants as long as he continues to outcross, but he will continue to have unpredictable results unless he happens to hit on some lucky combinations of homozygous [relatively genetically similar] dominants.

Outcrossing, Maxine Kinne points out, works well when the dominant traits we see expressed in both parents are the desirable ones we are after. Outcrossing introduces more variability and less consistency but can be especially useful when linebreeding uncovers some undesirable recessive trait. For example, two very nice animals with straight hind legs are linebred and produce kids with cow hocks they do not grow out of. That is a breeding not to repeat because cow hocks are lurking in recessive genes of those parents. An outcrossing might mask that undesirable recessive trait. Outcrossing also aids in preventing or correcting inbreeding depression (a loss in vigor, fertility, or survivability) that can happen with linebreeding or inbreeding.

Haphazard outcrossing of a carefully developed line, on the other hand, can undo generations of progress; so it is important, when outcrossing, to ensure that the animals used for the outcrossing also exhibit most of the desirable traits breeders want to see in the offspring.

Linebreeding

Linebreeding is key to bringing out desirable traits that tend to be recessive, like improved toplines and level rumps. The focus of linebreeding is to create a line of goats that has sufficient genetics in common to cement their desirable traits, so that these traits are more consistently reflected in offspring, generation after generation. In lines where this is skillfully done, we may recognize the line when we spot that goat we would love to add to our herd.

When they choose to linebreed, breeders may pair half siblings or cousins, aunt and nephew, uncle and niece, grandfather and granddaughter, or grandmother and grandson, with the clear understanding that promising offspring will be added to the Kinder world, while kids with faults, deformities, or health issues will be culled, as in destined for the freezer. Effective linebreeding depends on culling as a key strategy, with only its successes added to the Kinder gene pool.

Successful linebreeding is always based on an outstanding individual or individuals (not just average descendents of those outstanding individuals). As Maxine Kinne points out, “Linebreeding average animals is counterproductive, as you are certain to fix mediocrity firmly in your herd.”

Inbreeding

Inbreeding is the most radical form of linebreeding. It can bring out recessive genes that are otherwise masked by the dominant ones that determine a goat’s physical appearance. Father/daughter, mother/son, or full siblings may be mated, but this should be done only with the understanding that inbreeding requires rigorous culling (meaning goats in the freezer). Breeder Alice Hall notes that the more successful close linebreedings are often those involving half siblings. The most risky are those involving full siblings.

Inbreeding is a daring experiment of sorts—recessive faults or even serious mutations or deformities may lurk as surely as desirable results do. On the other hand, remarkable individuals can also result, who leave their stamp on the breed. Whatever the results of the experiment, inbreeding reveals very useful information about what a physically outstanding individual really brings, good and/or bad, to the gene pool.

Strategies for Successful Linebreeding

Boar breeder Tom Boyer points out a number of ways that linebreeding efforts can go wrong (see his article referenced below). Here is an inverse of his list, indicating what you need to be willing to do in order to linebreed successfully:

  • Have a firm grasp of the Kinder Breed Standard and the kind of animal you are aiming to produce (in the case of Kinders, think about both meat traits and good udders, milk production, length of lactations, overall hardiness, parasite resistance, easy of kidding, etc.).
  • Keep detailed records that can help you make informed breeding decisions.
  • Obtain superior does and especially outstanding sire(s), even if you have to travel or spend more up front to get them.
  • Cull undesirable animals by stocking the freezer (and sell that reasonably nice doe you love if her daughter is better and you do not have room for both). (If you are selling animals, please make sure they go to good homes where they will be cared for properly.)
  • Retain some of the very best kids for your breeding program rather than selling them all, so that you are improving your herd generation by generation.

Which breeding strategy you choose at any given point in your breeding program will depend on your goals in each instance, but Boyer notes that the trouble and expense you undertake to implement a successful linebreeding program can pay off richly in terms of the quality of your herd.

As you make breeding decisions, keep in mind what we know about dominant and recessive traits and those that are otherwise more or less heritable.

DominantRecessive
Long earsShort ears
WattlesNo wattles
Long hairShort hair
Nervous behaviorCalm behavior
Descended TesticlesCryptorchidism
Normal reproductive systemHermaphroditism (does)
Straight hocksCow hocks
More HeritableLess Heritable
Steep rumpsLevel rumps
Weak chineLevel topline
Short statureTall stature
Posty hind legsIdeal hind legs

Maxine Kinne has compiled a valuable chart on heritability percentages for a long list of traits at http://kinne.net/heritcht.htm.

For more information, especially on linebreeding and genetics, see resources below. We pair this general overview with two linebreeding Q&As and case studies, one with breeder Sue Huston and one with breeder Ashley Kennedy. We hope to follow up with another case study or two in our summer issue. There’s nothing like learning from the experience of others who are generous enough to share! Most important of all are the insights into how experienced and skillful breeders make breeding decisions.

Resources

By Elizabeth Sweet

Thurl to Thurl? Why does that matter?

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By Laura Kennett

Understanding all aspects of good rump structure is an important part of being a responsible goat breeder.  Breeding and selling goats isn’t something to be taken lightly.  Each breeder bears the responsibilty of producing quality offspring that preserve or improve the quality of the breed and match the breed standard.

One aspect of rump structure that is not often talked about and is poorly understood is levelness from thurl to thurl.  This trait is important in both bucks and does, as pelvic structure is a trait that is typically passed down from generation to generation.  Because I couldn’t have said it better myself, I have taken several excerpt from a well written article by Maxine Kinne on the structure and capacity of the goat pelvis. 

The rump is much more than a handy place for the tail – it is integral to standing, walking, breeding and kidding. Simple everyday functions require good pelvic conformation. Reproduction also depends on the pelvis – breeding, carrying the pregnancy, delivery and feeding kids. Good pelvic structure helps the goat toward a comfortable, productive life, and selecting for it should be a high priority.

Small or poorly shaped pelvis often result in arthritic wear on the thurl joints and repetitive strain to the rear legs and feet. The thurls (hips) are ball-and-socket joints joining the hind legs to the pelvis. The shape and slope of the pelvis determine hind leg angulation and the width between the rear legs. Pelvic abnormalities create rear leg abnormalities, such as one or both stifles deviated outward or post-leggedness. Too short a pelvis very seriously handicaps the ability to give birth normally.

Pelvic Dimensions

(taken from article by Shelene Costello)

Length and width are the dimensions we see when we look at the rump. There is length from hips to pins, width from thurl to thurl, and width between the pin bones.  Levelness of the rump is also taken into account, meaning a flatter rump from side to side. This does not mean horizontal to the ground – it means that the rump is more flat. Each part of the rump is important unto itself and as it correlates with the whole. Length and width should be more nearly level, not flat or rounded or steep in slope. 

Rump showing excellent levelness and width from thurl to thurl
 A good combination of pelvic length and the levelness from thurl to thurl correlate positively with kidding ease. Widely spaced thurls result in widely spaced rear legs. This width gives stability to the rear legs and width to the pelvic inlet (birth canal) on the inside. Thurls should be high enough to impart levelness of the rump from side-to-side. Increasing rump steepness from spine to thurl compresses pelvic width and interferes with kidding ease by compressing birth canal width. Total length of the pelvis should be medium long, a measurement which is proportionate to the goat’s size. Pelvic length equates with kidding ease better than pelvic width, although both dimensions are important to have together.

This doe had good width from thurl to thurl, but
is less level than the doe pictured above.

Goats with questionable pelvic structure should not be used for breeding. If she cannot deliver or be manually delivered vaginally the first time she gives birth, don’t breed her again, and castrate her buck kids. Making pelvic capacity an important criteria in your selection program is the most important decision you can make with regard to the future productivity of your herd. A short pelvis is often more steep and rounded from thurl to thurl than it should be.

Excessive slope from spine down to thurls
also creates less width in the pelvic area

The benefits to breeding for goats with correct pelvis structure are numerous.  Longevity, better attached and better quality udders, ease of kidding, and lower vet bills are just the obvious benefits.  Make sure you evaluate all aspects of rump structure in your goats, and be willing to cull those who don’t measure up.  You’re doing yourself, and many other people who might buy goats that have their heritage from your farm, a huge favor.