From This Side of the Ring: Goat Conformation

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Learn to understand the ADGA scorecard so you can better understand goat conformation, what the different terms are, and what to breed for.

When the days get shorter and colder, I tend to be more reflective of my herd. My does are dried off and, hopefully, all of them are pregnant. They spend their time eating and lounging as I anticipate warmer days and smaller hooves running around.

While I look back on the year, I think it’s important to remember the why behind the goat conformation. As a show herd, why do we want well-attached udders with a lot of capacity? Why do we want the goats to have strong pasterns? Does it matter if they have a good general appearance and depth of body? Of course, it matters. This isn’t just because the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) tells us it should matter but because functionality is important outside of the show ring. So, as I reflect and dream of warmer weather, I thought I’d share the whats of dairy goat conformation, terms, and the reason it’s important as I break down each section, and highlight what I feel anyone interested in dairy goats should focus on. For those who don’t know, the ADGA has a Unified Scorecard. Per the ADGA, “The goal of the Unified Scorecard is to aid in the selection of the type of dairy goat that can function efficiently over a long productive lifetime.” The scorecard is based on a 100-point scale and is broken into four sections, each accounting for a certain number of points. The sections are:

• General Appearance – 35 points
• Dairy Strength – 20 points
• Body Capacity – 10 points
• Mammary System – 35 points

General Appearance

General Appearance is 35 points on the scorecard, but what exactly is general appearance and why is it so important? The scorecard defines general appearance as “An attractive framework with femininity (masculinity in bucks), strength, upstandingness, length, and smoothness of blending throughout that create an impressive style and graceful walk.”

It’s saying we want our goats to look good and well put together. We want them to move well and to be balanced. When the scorecard breaks that category down further, you’ll see points allotted for head and breed characteristics, frontend assembly, back, rump, legs, feet, and pasterns.

Head

Having a good and strong head is important not only for pretty goats but also because we want a strong jaw so they can forage and browse efficiently. Everything the goat takes in starts at the head. We want the best we can breed so they can be efficient.

Front-End Assembly

That’s your withers, shoulders, point of elbow, and chest and brisket. The shoulders need to be smooth and the elbows tight against the body wall. The goat needs width in the chest and strength because this is what propels it. The front end drives them, and the rear follows. They need to be comfortable when moving with the herd in the field and barn. Whenever I see goats with loose elbows that pop out as they move around, I also see other issues, especially in their feet and legs.

Feet and Legs

Good feet and legs are important part of goat conformation. I’ve seen and managed goats with poor feet and pasterns, as well as goats that hyperextend at the knee. It isn’t pretty, and it’s definitely painful for them. They’re generally the ones that look skinnier and aren’t as thrifty because it’s painful if their feet are bad or they’re walking on their pasterns. I prefer goats I don’t have to pamper, so I breed for great legs, feet, and pasterns.

Backs

For breedability and comfort, I also breed for strong backs. Avoid a goat with a weak back and dip in the chine or one weak in the loin. The back and rump are all part of the connection. A strong back that isn’t too long or short supports the rump.

Rump

One of the most important parts of a doe is her rump. I like to breed for rumps that are long, wide, and nearly level but have a slight slope. This is what the scorecard calls for as well. However, the width, length, and levelness must be balanced with the rest of the goat. If you want level, why should there be some slope? Too level — or worse, hips lower than the pins — and the goat may have trouble conceiving or birthing.

Why long and wide? It’s all about enough room to easily pass kids, enough room for a high-capacity udder that sits against the body properly, and enough room to move her legs when that big udder is full. A proper rump provides all of that. If she can’t move well around a full udder, the udder health is more likely to suffer.

Dairy Strength

Dairy Strength is probably the most confusing section of the scorecard for newer breeders because it can be hard for them to “see.” This 20-point section of the scorecard is defined as “Long bone pattern throughout. Openness and angularity with strong yet refined and clean bone structure, showing enough substance, but with freedom from coarseness (short and fat) and with evidence of milking ability giving due regard to stage of lactation (of breeding season in bucks).”

You want a goat with angularity throughout (especially visible in the ribs) and not coarse or roundboned. A doe should be able to produce a lot of milk and have that dairy strength to sustain her body condition while doing so. Even if you have a backyard milker, she should put plenty of milk in the pail without requiring a bunch of extra feed to sustain her body condition.

Those with excellent dairy strength tend to be easier keepers, but that doesn’t mean they tend to have a lot of extra fleshing (fat). Avoid goats that hold too much weight, as fat goats tend to have bodies that break down due to the additional weight on their frame.

Body Capacity

Body Capacity, worth 10 points, is defined as “Relatively large in proportion in size, age, and period of lactation of animal (of breeding season for bucks), providing ample capacity, strength, and vigor.”

What does that mean? Body capacity in a goat is her chest and barrel. From the brisket back, the goat should have a nice gradual slope towards the ground as you move to the flank. You want her to be wide (again, not fat), deep, and have a good spring of rib, meaning not slab-sided or narrow-bodied. This area supports the heart and lungs. The more room, the better, and generally, the more strength. It’s an important area of goat conformation.

Mammary System

Finally, let’s talk about the Mammary System, also known as the udder. This section of the Unified Scorecard is worth 35 points, and for a good reason; they are dairy goats, after all. They need to produce milk over a long and productive lifetime. As stated on the scorecard, “Strongly attached, elastic, well-balanced with adequate capacity, quality, ease of milking, and indicating heavy milk production over a long period of usefulness.”

It’s pretty simple when you think about it; a well-attached udder with teats pointing almost straight down is preferred. The reason for this is easy. Teats that point out and rub on the inner rear leg can lead to mastitis. Too big of teats? You might not be able to use your milk machine, or it may be difficult to milk by hand. Udder health is essential; a well-attached udder will be less susceptible to problems like mastitis or injury. An udder attached well to the body has less chance of getting cut by something than an udder that swings as she walks. What’s a dairy goat without a healthy, productive udder?

A Long and Healthy Life

The Unified Scorecard wasn’t built by show snobs to make everyone breed pretty goats for the show ring. The scorecard was created to help guide dairy goat breeders in the right direction of goat conformation to develop healthy goats. We want goats to have a long and productive life. We want them to be able to walk to the hay feeder, pasture, and water trough easily, willingly, and happily. Whether you have goats for pleasure or goats in a dairy, all of our goals should be breeding or keeping goats for a long and productive life.

If you breed goats with good general appearance while trying to meet the standards set by the Unified Scorecard, your goats will have the right parts for a long and healthy life.

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JON KAIN lives and breathes goats, literally. By day, he’s a superintendent of a goat and cow dairy. By “night,” he and his family raise a small herd of Oberhasli goats while chasing his 3-year-old daughter or talking about goats on his podcast, Ringside: An American Dairy Goat Podcast.

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Originally published in the 2024 Winter issue of Goat Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.