Showing meat goats can be fun for you and your whole family.
It is our family project and has been a learning experience. After selecting
your new project, remember all goats are different. What will work with one
many not work with another. We will try to look at a few things that can be
done to help make sure your project gets to the show healthy and in good shape
and ready to show. HOUSING, FEEDING, FITTING, EXERCISE, SHOWING can all play
an important roll in how your project will go.
Meat Goats should be evaluated on type and market desirability. Type refers
to frame size, skeletal correctness, capacity and general appearance. Remember
we will have does bred just like our wethers at home that need to make mommas.
Market desirability related to how much finish the goat has in relation
to its weight, size and age.
Your goat should be rectangular in appearance from the side with a straight,
level top line. (Acceptable to have a gentle slop from hocks to pins) Length
of rump, length of body and length of leg are important to market desirability.
The overall body should be trim. The legs should be straight and placed
square under the body. The front forearm and hind legs should show evidence
of muscling.
From the front, your goat should show width between the front legs, with
muscling in the forearm and shoulders. The chest and forearm of a goat are
the best indicators of muscling in thin goats.
From the rear, the hindquarter should be muscular, and showing good width
down its top. They should have a deep, heavily muscled leg and rump, with
the widest part of the leg being the stifle area. They should have a broad,
thick top and loin that in naturally firm and hard handing.
General Appearance
Stature: The term stature refers to the overall skeletal size
and length of the goat. They need to have an adequate length of cannon bone
from knee to pastern and above average in overall length of body and general
size. The cannon bone length is a good indication of skeletal size. The
goat’s height measured at the withers should be slightly more than at the
hips; the bones should be of good size.
Head: The head should combine the beauty of eyes, nose, ears,
and overall from with strength and refinement. It should have balance of
length, width and substance that insures an ability to consume large amounts
of forage with ease.
Front End: The front end is a combination of chest and shoulder
features. The goat should have wide chest floor and prominent brisket with
a smooth blending of shoulder blades and sharp withers. This insures room
for the heart and lungs to do their work with ease and also is evidence
of proper muscle and ligament strength.
Front Legs: The goats front legs should be straight, perpendicular
to the ground, sound in the knees and full at the point of the elbow. The
legs should move with the front feet pointing straight ahead.
Back: A back that is straight, strong, wide, long and level is
desired in goats. This denotes a strong body build with good muscling and
is indicative of strength to carry large quantities of feed.
Rump: The goat’s rump should be long, wide and level from the
stifle-to-stifle cleaning fleshed and have a slight slope from hips to pins.
The shape of the rump is important as it affects leg set.
Hind Legs: The goats rear legs should be wide apart and straight
when viewed from the rear, with clean hocks and a good combination of bone
refinement and strength. Observed from the side, a plumb line originating
at the pin bone would fall parallel to the leg bone from hock to pastern
and touch the grounds behind the heel of the foot. The resulting angles
produced at the hock and stifle joint will be most ideal for easy walking
a and a minimum of joint problems.
Feet: Meat goats need strong pasterns and strong, well-formed
feet with tight toes, deep heel and level sole. Such feet are highly resistant
to injury or infection and easy to keep trimmed. Goat with uneven toes and
extremely weak pasterns should be culled.
Muscle: Meat characteristics can be visually determined by examining
the animal hindquarters, loin, shoulders and neck.
Hindquarters: A long, deeply attached muscle, relatively thick
at the thigh and stifle is desirable in meat goats. Heavier muscling on
the outside of the leg is acceptable. Muscle over the thurl and rump should
be obvious.
Loin: The loin eye or ribeye is typically the best indicator of
meatiness in market goats. It should be wide with a symmetrically oval shape
on each side of the backbone. This muscle should carry forward over the
ribs or rack.
Shoulders: The goats muscling should increase from the withers
to the point of the shoulder with the thickest muscle occurring immediately
above the chest floor. The circumference of the forearm is the second most
important indicator of meatiness, so the forearm muscle should exhibit a
prominent bulge and should tie- in deep into the knee.
Neck: The juncture of the neck and shoulder should be free of
excess tissue. It should gently slope to indicate muscling. Smoothness and
quality are important in this area. A long clean neck with muscling in balance
to the remainder of the animal is desired.
Condition: The term condition refers to the amount of finish or
fat the animal is carrying. Goats deposit fat internally before they do
externally. The ideal condition is a thin, but uniform, covering over the
loin, rib and shoulder. The external fat thickness over the loin at the
13th rib should be between .08 to .12 inches or an average .1-inch.
Acknowledgements: Much of the information used for these criteria was
taken from Texas Agricultural Extension Service publication B-5018.
