The goat from the top.<\/p>\n
Body shape:\u00a0A dairy goat should have a triangular shape. This ensures that there is enough room for feed in the rumen, even when the doe is pregnant with multiple kids.<\/p>\n
Body condition:\u00a0Feel along her spine and then let your hand slide down the side until you hit the big groove in her side. Feel along the rib bones at the top of the groove. There should be some meat there but it should not be too fatty. If you can\u2019t see the groove in her side at all, she is very obese. Don\u2019t buy a goat that is way too thin or way too fat.<\/p>\n
Hair:\u00a0The hair should be free of lice and mites. \u00a0Little white or brown spots that move indicate infestation. The hair should be shiny and not dull and dry.<\/p>\n
Skin:\u00a0The skin should be free of scales, sores, lumps, and bald patches.<\/p>\n
The goat from the front<\/p>\n
General attitude:\u00a0A healthy goat is alert and energetic.<\/p>\n
The Legs:\u00a0The legs should be straight.\u00a0 They should not bow in or bow out. Reject those with enlarged knee joints, with the skin worn off from walking on the knees.<\/p>\n
The Eyes:\u00a0The goat\u2019s eyes should be shiny and clear.\u00a0 Redness or drainage indicates pinkeye or other eye irritations.<\/p>\n
The Mouth:\u00a0The jaws should match in size and shape so that the goat can chew well.\u00a0 Reject the \u201cparrot mouth\u201d where the bottom jaw is shorter than the top jaw, \u201cmonkey mouth\u201d where the bottom teeth extend out beyond the top front teeth and \u201cbottle jaw\u201d which is a sack-like enlargement below the jaw due to worms or liver flukes.\u00a0 The lips should be free of sores.<\/p>\n
The teeth:\u00a0The teeth should be whole, spaced so the jaw can shut properly, and appropriate for age. \u201cBroken mouth\u201d indicates the goat is old and cannot chew well.<\/p>\n
Teeth that are worn down on a younger goat indicates that they are eating so close to the ground wearing their teeth away, and that they are probably malnourished and full of parasites..\u00a0 This is very common where grazing is not controlled and there is not enough grass to support the number of goats grazing.<\/p>\n
The Nose:\u00a0The nose should be dry and should not be draining. The goat should breathe quietly and easily.\u00a0 Noisy breathing and runny nose can mean pneumonia, which is highly contagious.<\/p>\n
The Skin:\u00a0Check for any abscesses on her face, neck or body.<\/p>\n
Body condition of the chest area:\u00a0Reach under the goat\u2019s front chest area and feel the breast bone for fat and meat.\u00a0 There should be meat there, but not a lot of fat.<\/p>\n
The goat from the back<\/p>\n
The udder:\u00a0The udder should be full, well attached at the top, with two distinct halves.\u00a0Teats should be of the same size and hang straight down or slightly out to the side. Confirm that there are no sores, lumps or deformities in the udder or teats.<\/p>\n
Udder size:\u00a0The size of the udder depends on the age of the goat and milking time. If the goat is a first milker her udder will not be as large as an older goat udder and that is perfectly normal. Udder size reduces on a goat that has recently been milked, and increase greatly as you approach the next milking time.<\/p>\n
Rectal area:\u00a0The back end of the goat should be clean.\u00a0 If there are liquid feces in the hair, the goat has diarrhea and is sick.<\/p>\n
Vagina:\u00a0The vagina should not discharge except when the goat has recently given birth which might continue for up to three weeks. However the discharge should not smell bad. The goat may also have a clear discharge if it is on heat.<\/p>\n
Back Legs:\u00a0The back legs should be wide apart and straight up and down, not bowed in or out.<\/p>\n
The goat from the sides<\/p>\n
Check both sides of the goat. She should stand square on all four legs and walk freely, without pain or limping.<\/p>\n
Hooves:\u00a0Pick up her hooves and check for foot rot or scald. Does the hoof smell bad?\u00a0 Is there a white patch, or sores between the hooves?\u00a0\u00a0 Reject goats from a herd that has even one case of foot rot or foot scald because once you get it in your farm, you can\u2019t get it out.\u00a0 Even a goat without symptoms now, carries the disease, if other goats in the herd have had it.<\/p>\n
The last thing to do is to feel the lymph nodes and make sure there is no swelling in any of them.\u00a0 If there is swelling, do not buy the goat, as swelling indicates illness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The goat from the top. Body shape:\u00a0A dairy goat should have a triangular shape. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}