Goat Glam: March/April 2025
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Goat Glam will feature two goats for assessment each Time. We’ll discuss each doe’s good traits, what could be better, and what to look for in a buck to improve her kids
Happy spring! I’ve really enjoyed giving my opinions on your goat’s conformation and look forward to continuing. I’m going to start this issue off with something I haven’t done before: I’m going to critique a goat that’s currently in my own herd.
Opal: 2-year-old first freshener Oberhasli doe.
Opal has a lot going for her, and although she’s a finished champion, she isn’t perfect. In the side profile picture, you’ll not only notice those fancy yellow crocs, but if you look at Opal’s front feet, you’ll see that you can almost see in between her toes, and that’s because she toes out a little bit. She also toes out a touch in the rear, but it isn’t anything significant.
She’s a lovely doe that oozes dairy strength and is wonderfully balanced with a strong back, long rump, and great rear leg angulation. If you look at her udder, you’ll see that it’s very well attached with a nice fore udder and a high and wide rear udder that sits smoothly into the escutcheon (the space between the legs under the vulva).
One bone of contention I have with her udder is that her teats are set wider than I’d like, and I’d prefer a little more delineation, but teats are only 2 points each on the scorecard, so I can live with it.
What’s the point in me assessing my own goat, you ask? Well, as you can see, I can also be hard on my goats (sometimes too hard), and to me, it’s important to be able to look at your goats and see them truly for what they are. If you want to raise goats for show or appraisal with a goal to win or score well, you need to be able to look at your goats without bias. See the pros and cons of your goats for what they truly are and decide if you can live with their faults or if they need to find a new home.
Luna: 2-year-old second freshener Nigerian Dwarf doe
Next up, we have Luna, who’s owned by Miranda Wood. If there were bonus points for moon spots, this doe would have them in spades! Once you get past the flash of this doe and look at her for who she is, you can see she has nice parts and pieces!
I like the length of body of this doe, and she’s most certainly productive when it comes to milk. She has a pretty head and nice depth of body.
I would like to see her rump a little longer, however, and a little more extension in that brisket. Although her udder is productive, I’d like to see a little more balance to it. When viewing from the side, you should be able to see the udder in thirds: ⅓ of the rear udder behind the legs, ⅓ hidden by the legs, and ⅓ of the fore udder in front of the legs. This pretty doe appears to be a touch narrow between the hocks (I’m judging from three pictures, so it may not be the case). Because of this, her udder sits lower under the escutcheon than it should and further forward, causing the udder to almost tilt forward. Her teats point toward her front legs instead of pointing plum to the ground, but again, teats are only 2 points on the scorecard. She has a lot of good going for her, and the right buck could “fix” these “issues” in one breeding. She’s a lovely doe. Thank you for submitting.
Want your goats in Goat Glam?
Send in your photos for a chance to have Jon Kain, dairy goat showman and co-host of The Ringside dairy goat podcast, assess where your goat shines and where to strengthen her kids! email: goatjournal@gmail.com.
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.
Originally published in the March/April digital issue of Goat Journal
