ADGA Genetics

I feel so lucky to have been able to bring home another beautiful doe from Naomi Counides.  Lizzy has it all - from her smooth topline and rear leg angularity, her broad face with strong breed character in her nose and ears, sturdy legs and pasterns.  Combining her strength and the balance of her proportions, she really embodies ADGA’s term “dairy strength.”  As a baby she was a super-sweetie…now as a yearling first freshener, she was full of it, she’s accessed more stuff above my head in the milking house than any other goat has attempted!  Now, she is often the first doe out to be milked, and ready to explore - but thankfully, behaves very well on the milking stand!

Lizzy’s first linear appraisal session certainly brought some disappointing scoring, rating her very low in strength and stature especially.  However, being familiar with the genetics (pictures below for your reference), and having observed her as a strong-boned baby, we feel the appraisal just caught her at an awkward time as a yearling first freshener.  There was also criticism about her teats being too long, which for me personally is not a problem, it makes it easier to milk her.  If I came across structural or health problems related to the length of her teats, I would be more concerned, but for me that is a "weakness" that is not actually a weakness.  And, we look forward to the next LA session, which may not work out for 2017 due to scheduling conflicts, but definitely 2018!