Meat Goat Performance
What makes goats profitable? Performance.
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Selecting for high performance makes raising goats more economically and environmentally sustainable. By identifying and retaining high-producers on our ranch, our stocking rate on pasture is lower, as is our shelter space requirement. We’ve also reduced our inputs and management burden by identifying the animals best suited to our conditions.
Performance in goats is tracked and measured. For many, it’s measured in the show ring or milk pail, but there are other ways to assess and improve performance in goats. When evaluating performance, a wide range of data must be considered rather than a single data point. To this end, the GHIP (Goat Herd Improvement Program) was developed.
Any breeder can participate in the GHIP directly through the American Goat Federation, which provides software tracking sheets and interpretation of the data to its members. Producers can also track their own data. All that’s needed is goats and a scale. Many data points are gathered throughout the year, most involving weights.
Birth Weight (BW)
Birth weights are required to do many performance calculations. Baby goats can be weighed with a sling and hand-held luggage scale. Subtract the weight of the sling to get the actual baby weight. We keep our scale in our kidding kit, so it’s readily available.
Weaning Weight (WW) and Average Daily Gain (ADG)
Weaning weight is another simple data point: How much does a kid weigh on the day it’s weaned? Except, to use it for comparison, it’s not that simple unless all kids are weaned at exactly the same age, typically 90 days. There is a weaning day in large herds, and the kids vary in age.
Weaning weight and Average Daily Gain are the most important data points in performance records. They’re used to evaluate the motherability of the dam, the quality of milk, and the conversion of inputs. Low numbers can be genetic, indicate health issues, or inadequate herd nutrition.
For meat goat producers, even a small difference in weaning weight can translate to a significant difference in profit when carried over a large number of goats. Adjusted Weaning Weight factors in the age of the doe, gender of the kid, and size of the litter. We find it interesting for curiosity’s sake, but there’s no grace for other factors in our herd. The only thing that turns a profit at market is actual weight, not calculations. When looking at weaning weights, it’s fair to ask a producer how the weight was measured.
If a producer is using ADG to represent performance, consider that if it isn’t the final ADG to weaning weight, the number may not accurately predict the final weaning weight. Individual goats have growth spurts just as people do. Comparing ADGs from farm to farm can be misleading if inputs and conditions aren’t considered. Kids accessing creep feed can show spikes in ADG when creep is introduced.
150-Day Weights/Yearling Weights
While weaning weights are important, they indicate a doe’s performance more than the kids’.
The true measure of kid performance is the 150-day weight — or a standard interval after weaning. This data point tells the producer how well the kid is sourcing and converting feed apart from the dam. This is where the heritable trait of weight gain is demonstrated and selected.
Unfortunately, many producers don’t have this data as kids are frequently sold at weaning. Interval weights are valuable selection criteria. Therefore, we hold back several kids each year to track data.
Doe Production Efficiency Score (DPE) and Litter Weaning Weight (LWW)
Does can be compared using a Doe Production Efficiency Score (DPE).
For this, does must also be weighed when kids are weaned. Ideally, a doe weans at least her own weight in kids. Numbers above 100 are more than her weight, below 100, less. These numbers are used to compare one doe to the others in the herd.
DPE is considered an indicator of profitability — how well a doe converts inputs to marketable output. A high DPE can be very misleading if the doe’s weaning weight isn’t considered against her breeding weight. If a doe loses condition, her low weaning weight can inflate the DPE.
We prefer to measure the difference between our does’ weight at breeding and their weight at weaning. If there’s a significant difference between the two, the profit margin may be lost in inputs to restore her condition for rebreeding. A doe that weans heavy litters but loses condition isn’t as efficient or cost-effective for a production operation as a doe that maintains condition despite the demands of gestation and lactation.
Litter Weaning Weight (LWW) can also be used to compare does, but an LWW of 100 with two 50-pound kids is likely to be more profitable at the market than the same LWW with 33.3-pound triplets. The 33-pound goats won’t grade as well and will likely bring less profit per pound.
Kidding Percentage (K%)
Kidding percentage is another way to evaluate doe performance and overall herd performance. It’s one of the most important factors affecting profitability.
There are several different measures of kidding percentage: kids born, live kids born, kids weaned, doe kidding percentage, herd kidding percentage, and first freshener kidding percentage. Kidding percentage can be affected by several factors: age of the doe, number of does assigned to a buck, fertility of the buck, nutrition just before breeding, and overall health.
Again, no single data point can be used at the exclusion of others to determine performance, as a doe with a high kidding percentage only performs better if those kids also have marketable weaning weights.
Using on-farm performance data to compare animals within a herd helps the breeder select the best performing animals to maximize the breed’s potential and profit on the scale at the market. It also ensures goats sold as breeding stock are of the highest quality.
Comparing data from farm to farm directly is unreliable, as conditions vary, such as climate and feeding protocols. Data does indicate trends in performance, however, if the same management is practiced.
Calculating Performance
Animals offered for breeding stock should be those in the top performance percentages within a herd. Tracking performance is good practice for all breeders, and purchasing performance should be a consideration for all buyers, as buying and selling breeding stock with low-performance scores is a detriment to a breed.
Calculated Weaning Weight (CWW) is used to standardize the weight for comparison:
ADG (Average Daily Gain) = WW (Weaning Weight) – BW (Birth Weight)/age in days
Example: an 85-day-old kid weighs 52 pounds. It weighed 6 pounds at birth.
52 – 6 = 46
46/85 = 0.54 ADG
For CWW: 90 * ADG + BW = CWW
Using the same example, 90 * .54 = 48.6 + 6 = 54.6 CWW
Calculating Doe Production Efficiency (DPE):
Litter Weaning Weight (LWW) / Doe Weight at Weaning *100
Example: a doe weighs 130 pounds at weaning. Her kids weigh 52, 46, and 40 pounds.
LWW: 52+46+40 = 138
138/130 = 1.06 1.06*100 = 106 DPE
Calculating Kidding Percentage (K%) for an individual doe:
Number of kids/number of years bred * 100 = K%
Example: a doe has produced 10 kids in 4 breeding seasons 10/4 = 2.5 *
100 = 250 K%
When calculating for a group of does in a single season:
Number of kids/number of does bred * 100 = group K%
KAREN KOPF and her husband Dale own Kopf Canyon Ranch in Troy, Idaho. They enjoy “goating” together and helping others goat. You can learn more about them at Kopf Canyon Ranch on Facebook or KikoGoats.org.
Originally published in the 2024 Summer issue of Goat Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.