2014 Fee Changes

Hello Everyone!

Beginning January 1st, 2014, there will be three changes to the KGBA fee schedule. The changes are as follows:

1. We will be charging a $5 late fee on all membership renewals submitted after March first. Membership fees are due on the first of the year for all ongoing memberships. We hope that the new deadline for dues will enable us to keep our mailing lists, breeders listing and membership lists as consistent as possible. New members joining after the first of November will have their membership dues applied toward the following year, but all other members need to pay their dues early in the year in order to receive all member benefits as well as avoiding late fees.

2. There will be a $10 fee for all goats registered after they are a year old. This fee was already in place for goats registered after the age of 2, but we are still receiving a large number of late registrations, and our registrar is spending a great deal of time wading through paperwork in order to register multiple generations of goats at once. We encourage everyone to register their goats BEFORE breeding them in order to avoid confusion, problems and more work for our registrar. Thank you!

3. When transferring goats to a new owner, the discounted member fee will be used if EITHER party is a KGBA member. Previously, both parties were required to be members in order to receive the member fee.

Please feel free to contact any of the board members if you have questions or comments regarding fees, membership, or anything else related to your Kinder Goats. Our contact information is located on the KGBA website at www.kindergoatbreeders.com

2014 Calendars Are Here!

The 2014 KGBA calendar is ready!
Thanks to the hard work of Lisa LaRose and Kelsee Gibbs, we are offering everyone the opportunity to purchase 2014 calendars featuring one of our favorite subjects - Kinder Goats! These calendars also make great gifts for your goat-loving friends!
Calendars are $15 each including postage. Orders and payment can be sent directly to Lisa at - lisalarose77@yahoo.com

KGBA Election Results

We are happy to announce that we had excellent voter participation in our recent election, resulting in a record number of returned ballots. Thank you all for your participation... your vote does count, and your voice (or lack thereof) makes this association what it is!

Voting results for KGBA board positions are as follows:

President - Sue Beck

Vice President - Lisa Lamm

Secretary - Jean Jajan

Treasurer - Lisa Naumann

Member at Large - Carla Durham

Member at Large - Lisa LaRose

Member at Large - Janet Rekow

Congratulations to all board members on their election, and a warm welcome to our new board member, Janet Rekow! We look forward to working with her in the years to come.

The ballot sent out this fall also included two proposed changes to our by-laws. All voting members were in favor of Proposition I, and and overwhelming majority were in favor of Proposition II. Therefor, as of January 1st, 2014, the by-laws will be amended accordingly to read:

Article XI - Fiscal Year - "The fiscal year and the operational year of the Association shall begin on January 1 and end on December 31 or the same year."

Article IX 0 Nominations and Elections - Section 1: Time and Elections - "The regular elections of Directors of the Association shall be held in the month of September of each calendar year and all Directors then elected shall serve the term for which they are respectively elected or until their successors are elected and qualified. Director nominees much be in good standing by March 1 of the election year. Board Members-at-Large shall serve for a term of three years, except when chosen by the Board of Directors to fill a vacancy by death or resignation, in which case they shall serve the remainder of the unexpired term."

Thank you all again for your support and participation as we look forward to a great new year with the KGBA!

So You Want to Have a Sanctioned Kinder Show...

By Leah Rennick

There are official rules which have been established by the KGBA Board, which must be followed to have a sanctioned Kinder show.  These can be found in Files on the Face Book page for Kinder Folk, and in the Forms and Resources section of the KGBA website.  Once you have read the rules and printed a copy to refer to, you may begin the steps to have a sanctioned Kinder show in your area.

         
First, you will need a judge. A KGBA approved judge, which is a licensed ADGA judge or a licensed pygmy goat judge (licensed meat goat judges are not acceptable) who has received copies of the Kinder goat score card, breed standard and the KGBA show rules and regulations at least 30 days before the show.  The person organizing the Kinder show is responsible for sending these papers to the judge.  Judges generally charge several hundreds of dollars for a fee plus travel and expenses.  You will also need a location to hold a show with adequate room for animal stalls and parking for exhibitors and visitors.  There is usually a hefty fee for this rental if only to cover liability insurance for the event.  These two items have kept me working with other organizations to add a Kinder show with an existing show rather than trying to create a stand-alone Kinder show.  I have been told the cost of renting a facility for the show and the fee for the judge is normally taken from the cost of entry fee per animal, stall rental for animals, etc. so the more people involved sharing the expense the easier it is to afford.

Another requirement to qualify for sanction (not counting the appropriate paper work which must be completed and submitted to the KGBA Show Director along with a fee) is having enough registered or certificate of merit animals per class.  There is a list of Kinder classes for a show for junior does, senior does, junior bucks, senior bucks, and chevon.  These are listed in the rules and regulations, as is the number required for each show: senior does require a minimum of 9 entries, junior does a minimum of 6 entries, senior bucks a minimum of 6 entries, junior bucks a minimum of 4 entries.  Chevons do not have a minimum requirement at this time.  Our state fair also has a requirement of a minimum of three breeders from our state to participate for the breed to be included in the show schedule.

         
After the request for show sanctioning and the sanction fee have been sent to the KGBA president, follow up to make certain that everything was received and is in order for the show to be approved providing there are enough animals at the show, then let the president know where the rosette’s for the show need to be sent (to the person organizing the show).  As with any show, notify everyone and invite them to participate in the show, advertise, advertise, advertise.  Send out show registrations to people and as they are returned keep a roster of the classes and who is registered for each class.  You will need to pay the sponsoring group their fee for adding the Kinder show.  At the show you will need a ring steward to help keep the classes running smoothly, make certain all entries are ready to enter the gate when the class is announced.  You will need a secretary to record the placing of each class and make sure the judge signs off on each class.  After the show these papers will need to be mailed to the KGBA show director to complete the sanctioning requirements.  It is also nice if you can find someone to take photographs to send in to the KGBA for the web site, newsletter, etc.  

Finally, have fun!!! Holding a show is a lot of work, but it is also great fun to meet other Kinder owners in your area and to see their wonderful goats. Good luck at the shows!

Introducing....

Our new Show Director, Alicia Weaver!!

Leah Rennick has made the difficult decision to step down from her position as Show Director in order to focus more time and energy on her growing soap and body product business. She has been a wonderful asset to the KGBA, working tirelessly to put on great Kinder shows throughout Missouri and helping members in other states to hold their own shows. She created our Cafe Press sight and does everything she can to promote our little goats at every show she attends. We are extremely grateful for everything that she has done, and will miss her as our show director. We are excited to see her business grow, though, and wish her all the best. Thank you, Leah!!!

Although we are sad to see Leah go, we are extremely excited to welcome Alicia Weaver as our new Show Director. Alicia resides in Missouri, and has attended many Sanctioned Kinder Shows there over the past few years. She has worked closely with Leah in the past to make these shows a success, and I have no doubt that she will continue the tradition of fun, welcoming functions that show-goers have become accustomed to. She is looking forward to working with members to develop more shows throughout the country, so please feel free to contact her for help if you are interested in holding a show near you!

Kinder Classifieds

Buying a Kinder? Selling a Kinder? Just want to look at lots of really cute pictures of Kinder goats?

Come check out the KGBA Kinder Classified on Facebook! The page was created as an easy way to sell and find registered Kinder Goats, and so far, it's a hit! A number of Kinder connections have already been made, with kids already settling into their new homes.

The page can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/groups/kinderclassifieds/

Hope to see you there!

Champion Chevon Prizes

Last year, the KGBA board announced its decision to offer a $100 reward to the Grand Champion Chevon and a $50 reward to the Reserve Grand Champion of any sanctioned state level Kinder shows.

We are very pleased to announce that, in addition to the $100 cash prize offered by the KGBA, Tom and Sue Huston have generously offered to donate an additional $50 cash prize to the Chevon Champion of the Missouri State Fair Kinder Show. The Hustons have a long history of planning, developing and showing in sanctioned Kinder shows throughout Missouri. They have worked very hard to develop community interest and participation in KGBA activities. Hopefully, their kind gift will continue to do this for years to come, and we will see a continued increase in Kinder participation at meat goat shows. Thank you, Sue and Tom!

The recipient of the awards in this year's only sanctioned state Chevon Championship were:

Grand Champion Chevon (recipient of $100 KGBA prize, $50 prize sponsored by Sue and Tom Huston) - Zachary's Champion Goats Bingo 

Reserve Grand Chevon (recipient of $50 KGBA prize) - Zachary's Champion Goats Tiberous

Congratulations, Zachary Weaver!! Your hard work and careful planning was reflected in both of these fine goats!

This ongoing award is being offered in the hope that breeders will carefully consider the meat aspect of the Kinder goat as well as milk production when creating their breeding plans. Putting meat in your freezer is the foremost benefit to breeding growthy, meaty kids, but it can serve another purpose, too. Having wethers that are competitive in the show ring makes them desirable to 4H members and other show-goers, increasing their value on the open market, and offering another outlet for those extra wethers. And of course, winning in the show ring is a great way to promote your herd and Kinders as a breed.

For those interested in taking part in next summer's shows, now is the time to start planning and breeding for beautiful, healthy, dual purpose goats that will stand out in the field and in the ring!



**To discuss creating Sanctioned Kinder Shows near you, please contact sue@jabeck.com

Show Off!!

Do you want to show off your love for Kinder goats in a fun and fabulous way?? Well, now you can!!
Promote your goats in style with clothing, cups and gear that proudly display our logos! Give awesome gifts to your goat-loving friends!

Thanks to the hard work and creativity of Leah Rennick and Jean Jajan, you can now order all kinds of merchandise through CafePress and have it delivered straight to your door!

As a courtesy to our members, all merchandise is being sold at cost, with no profit going to the KGBA. Our CafePress store front can be seen at:
http://www.cafepress.com/KinderGoatBreedersAssociation

New items coming soon, so please check back on a regular basis.



**Interested parties are encouraged to consider donating artwork, design ideas or photos for consideration on merchandise. Please contact sue@jabeck.com. Like always, compensation will only include thanks, compliments and the warm and fuzzy feeling you get for helping to promote our great little goats.

New Board Appointment

Due to increased work obligations, Member-at-large Deb Ezzati resigned from the Board in July.  We’ll miss you, Deb! Thank you for serving on behalf of the KGBA!

Lisa LaRose of Illinois has been appointed to the vacated position.  Lisa has been breeding Kinder goats for years, and has been an invaluable resource for Kinder owners in the Midwest. Her extensive knowledge and experience in goat husbandry, medical background, enthusiasm and love for Kinders make her a wonderful addition to the board. Please join us in welcoming her!

Thurl to Thurl? Why does that matter?

By Laura Kennett

Understanding all aspects of good rump structure is an important part of being a responsible goat breeder.  Breeding and selling goats isn’t something to be taken lightly.  Each breeder bears the responsibilty of producing quality offspring that preserve or improve the quality of the breed and match the breed standard.

One aspect of rump structure that is not often talked about and is poorly understood is levelness from thurl to thurl.  This trait is important in both bucks and does, as pelvic structure is a trait that is typically passed down from generation to generation.  Because I couldn’t have said it better myself, I have taken several excerpt from a well written article by Maxine Kinne on the structure and capacity of the goat pelvis. 

The rump is much more than a handy place for the tail - it is integral to standing, walking, breeding and kidding. Simple everyday functions require good pelvic conformation. Reproduction also depends on the pelvis - breeding, carrying the pregnancy, delivery and feeding kids. Good pelvic structure helps the goat toward a comfortable, productive life, and selecting for it should be a high priority.

Small or poorly shaped pelvis often result in arthritic wear on the thurl joints and repetitive strain to the rear legs and feet. The thurls (hips) are ball-and-socket joints joining the hind legs to the pelvis. The shape and slope of the pelvis determine hind leg angulation and the width between the rear legs. Pelvic abnormalities create rear leg abnormalities, such as one or both stifles deviated outward or post-leggedness. Too short a pelvis very seriously handicaps the ability to give birth normally.

Pelvic Dimensions

(taken from article by Shelene Costello)

Length and width are the dimensions we see when we look at the rump. There is length from hips to pins, width from thurl to thurl, and width between the pin bones.  Levelness of the rump is also taken into account, meaning a flatter rump from side to side. This does not mean horizontal to the ground - it means that the rump is more flat. Each part of the rump is important unto itself and as it correlates with the whole. Length and width should be more nearly level, not flat or rounded or steep in slope. 

Rump showing excellent levelness and width from thurl to thurl

 A good combination of pelvic length and the levelness from thurl to thurl correlate positively with kidding ease. Widely spaced thurls result in widely spaced rear legs. This width gives stability to the rear legs and width to the pelvic inlet (birth canal) on the inside. Thurls should be high enough to impart levelness of the rump from side-to-side. Increasing rump steepness from spine to thurl compresses pelvic width and interferes with kidding ease by compressing birth canal width. Total length of the pelvis should be medium long, a measurement which is proportionate to the goat's size. Pelvic length equates with kidding ease better than pelvic width, although both dimensions are important to have together.

This doe had good width from thurl to thurl, but

is less level than the doe pictured above.

Goats with questionable pelvic structure should not be used for breeding. If she cannot deliver or be manually delivered vaginally the first time she gives birth, don't breed her again, and castrate her buck kids. Making pelvic capacity an important criteria in your selection program is the most important decision you can make with regard to the future productivity of your herd. A short pelvis is often more steep and rounded from thurl to thurl than it should be.

Excessive slope from spine down to thurls

also creates less width in the pelvic area

The benefits to breeding for goats with correct pelvis structure are numerous.  Longevity, better attached and better quality udders, ease of kidding, and lower vet bills are just the obvious benefits.  Make sure you evaluate all aspects of rump structure in your goats, and be willing to cull those who don’t measure up.  You’re doing yourself, and many other people who might buy goats that have their heritage from your farm, a huge favor. 

Say Cheese!

August is National Goat Cheese month!

Here is a great article on why summer i the perfect time to make and enjoy goat cheeses:
http://blog.artisanalcheese.com/national-goat-cheese-month/301

In honor of this wonderful holiday (yes... we're a little bit biased), we are asking you to send in your best goat cheese recipes! We would love any recipes for making goat milk cheese, or those that include goat milk cheese as an ingredient. All entries will be posted here on the blog, and our favorites will be published in the fall newsletter.

Recipes can be sent to sue@jabeck.com. Please feel free to send as many recipes as you'd like... more is definitely better when it comes to goat milk cheese!

Want to Help?

It's nomination time at the KGBA!

All positions on the board are annual except Member at Large (which alternates on a three year schedule). Descriptions of the positions are posted in the Bylaws, under the "Membership" section of the KGBA website at www.kindergoatbreeders.com. 


Anyone interested in running for positions on the Board of Directors should contact the nominating committee as soon as possible. This year's nominating committee consists of the following people:

Carla Durham
Jean Jajan
Sue Beck


Nominations need to be in by August 15th in order to have our ballots out by September first. Please spread the word - the success of our organization depends on the help and enthusiasm of our members!

Milk Testing

Thank you, Sue Huston, for this wonderful article on milk testing:

 

How much milk is that Kinder doe giving? Just because she feed three kids are her udder looks full are maybe you are milking three does and the gallon bucket is about full with this specific doe probably giving half of this. Is this your answer to the quantity of milk this doe is milking?  If so then you really don’t have any idea to the milking ability of this doe.

You don’t think that the amount of milk being given by a certain doe is important?  Well it may not seem important as long as you are getting enough milk for the family are the kids seem to be growing well. If you are selling Kinder stock then the real milking ability in you herd is very important and you need facts to prove each and every does milking capability. You might have someone looking for does to milk in a diary situation. You would be more likely to make a sale if you had the figures on all your does giving not only the quantity of milk but also the amount of butterfat and protein. Kinder does in general have higher butterfat content than many of the other breeds which make them great candidates for cheese plants.

There are several options available to those interested in milk testing. There is individual official testing, group testing and one-day testing. Each will give you official test results. If you cannot afford any of these then just keeping personnel records would certainly be better than not testing. The KGBA can furnish forms for your personnel use. There will be links with discussion on the official tests available in the following paragraphs. I thought you might be interested in reading this web page:

How to Get Started on DHI Milk Test with ADGA.

http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/showthread.php?t=136415&referrerid The Kinder Association use the same rules for DHIR testing as ADGA so for a Kinder doe to earn her star she must meet the same requirements as that of an ADGA doe. Please view each of the videos in the link above whether you plan to do DHIR testing or not. Langston does such a wonderful job and offers so much for breeders.

You can decide on official testing, group testing or one-day testing to prove the milking ability of your herd. I think official milk testing has been explained fully in the link above.  If there are 3 or more breeders in your area that all wish to become testers then they can test each other's herds monthly OR you can each do the Owner/Sampler Test Option and run Verification Tests on each other's herds.  There are breeders, having a friend living near by to become an official tester, that friend can then come to test their herd. Testing can be done at shows too making it possible for several breeders to participate in a one-day testing.

I hear so much about record keeping programs. Milk testing is a great program for record keeping for your herd. Not only are you proving the milking ability of that doe but that buck and all those daughters and sons in the line.

One-Day Test is considered a separate event, which requires a separate sanction and registration fee. Contact KGBA regarding these fees. Points in One-Day Testing are earned by the quantity of milk produced, length of time since kidding and butterfat content. A Kinder doe must earn 18 points or more to earn a star in One-Day Testing. Below is the system used to calculate these points.

Milk Point System

One point per pound of milk produced, calculated to within one decimal point.

One-tenth (0.1) point for every complete 10-day period that the doe has been in milk since her last kidding, with a maximum of three and six tenths (3.6) points or 360 days.

One point for every five one-hundredths (0.05) pounds of butterfat yielded.

Milk weighs about 8.4 lbs. per gallon. Below are the figures from a 2000 One-Day Test. Notice that only one doe receives enough points (18 or more) to make her star. The other does scores are good and ones that I am proud of. These are official scores and prove that these Kinder does are good milking does even if they did not make their stars. Ebony milked about 1-½ gallons in One-Day Testing with a total of 22.7 points thus making her star

Milking testing is the only way to prove that your Kinder does are truly good milking Kinder.

Sue Huston

What's New!?!

Hello Everyone!

The KGBA Board has had an exciting and busy start to the year, and we are hard at work trying to make the KGBA Association better than ever! We have some fresh new faces on the Board, and some exciting changes right around the corner. Some of the things that you should be seeing soon are:

A NEWSLETTER - After stalling last year, our newsletter is back on track, and coming soon to a mailbox near you (well, your mailbox, actually...). A special thanks to Jeanette Woods and Laura Kennett for working so hard to create past newsletters - I know you both did a ton of work, and they were awesome!

HERD EVALUATIONS - Tom Considine will be on the road this summer, and has graciously offered to come to farms within a certain radius of his show route for no additional traveling fee. We will be posting his route soon!

WEBSITE - We are updating the website with a fresh face and lots of new information. Please check back regularly, as this will be an ongoing project.

CALENDAR - We hope to put out a calendar this year, including photos submitted by members of all your beautiful Kinder goats. More details coming soon!

Please check back often to the Communique and the website - We would love ideas, suggestions and pictures!!!  We can always use more photos of registered Kinder goats for the website, newsletters and future promotional materials. If you want to donate pictures that you have taken of your own registered Kinders, please send photos to: sue@jabeck.com **

We look forward to hearing from all of you, and to sharing a great new year of growth, goats and good times!

Warm Regards,
Sue Beck
KGBA President



**By sending photos, you are agreeing to have them posted on the website with no compensation other than bragging rights. Depending on how many we receive, your photos may or may not be used, but we'll also be posting pics to the communique in mini "breed brags," so watch for them there, too!

Don't Wait - Register Your Goats!

As springs nears, the number of registration applications for new kids increases dramatically. It is extremely exciting to see how many new Kinder kids are being born, the increase in new herds, and the increased interest in our membership. This is a great time of growth for the Kinder Association and our little goats, and we couldn't be happier about it. But as you breed, buy and sell your Kinders, please remember how important it is to make sure that all of your paperwork is current and cmplete.

On occasion, we run into issues with applications, and those problems are inevitably compounded if the goats in question have been sold or bred. PLEASE REGISTER YOUR GOATS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! It is not good practice to offer your bucks for buck service if they have not yet been registered, nor is it a good idea to sell kids as "registered" or "registerable" if their parents do not yet have papers. It is our responsibility as reputable breeders to supply buyers with all the information and documentation necessary to register their new goats. This includes ensuring that our own bucks and does are registered BEFORE we breed them, and certainly before selling their offspring, so that all paperwork can be completely quickly and without problems.

If you are buying new goats, the best way to protect yourself from problems is to require either:

A. The goats you are buying are registered, and you receive the registration(s) and signed transfer at the time of purchase.
B. Both parents are registered, and you receive copies of their registrations, a signed transfer, and a completed registration application for your new kid at the time of purchase.

If you purchase or breed to goats with "pending" registrations, the KGBA can not guarantee that your goats will actually be registrable with the association, so please protect yourselves - make sure that all paperwork is in order before you buy or breed!

The KGBA Board of Directors welcome any and all questions related to buying, selling, and breeding Kinders, and are happy to help you in any way we can. Please feel free to contact us at any time... we're happy to help!

Meat yields on the dual purpose Kinder Goat

The Kinder is a dual purpose goat used for both milk and meat.  The meat aspect has been neglected by many breeders.  Our beloved Kinders have become more dairy in type sacrificing meat production for milk production.  While for many milk is all they want, a breeder needs to keep in mind the fact that usually about half the kids are bucks.  Not all bucks should be kept as bucks.  On average only 1 out of 10 is truly buck quality.  What do you do with the rest of those darling little fellows.  True, you can wether them and sell them as pets or brush clearers but that market saturates fast. 

In our area there are a couple of meat goat buyers.  They pay by the pound and their price depends on the type of goat.  Dairy kids bring less per pound that meat kids.  I have worked on my marketing with the meat goat buyer I use and he knows that my kids pack meat.  I am now getting the same price per pound for my Kinder boys as he pays for the Boer kids. 

If you are planning on slaughtering any kids this year please keep records and let me know what the live weight, carcass weight and actual meat weight wrapped is.

The chart below will show some of the yields that come from well bred Kinder kids.

Kinder goat carcass yields
	Live wt. lbs	hanging wt lbs	boneless meat lbs
Doe SH	120	59	33
Doe SH	140	71	41
Doe SH	134	62	32
Wether SH	61.5	30	18
Doe SH	135	67	39
Doe SH	138	68	39
GJ Wether	82	41	23
GJ Buck 17 mos	170	90	45
GJ Doe 18 mos	99	47	30
GJ doe 9 mos	95	43	26
GJ Crytorchid 6 mos	92	51	35
GJ Buck 7 mos	89	49	32
GJ Wether 7 mos	80	44	30
GJ Buck 7 mos	70	39	23

For more information on Kinders as meat goats look in the blog archives in 2012 October Kinders as Meat goats.

Jean Jajan

Selling Kinder® Products

On September 25^th of last year, the KGBA board made an announcement regarding the sales of products labeled with the Kinder® name. In the announcement, we asked that people considering selling such products apply for a license to do so through our association. Upon further consideration, we have decided NOT to ask our members for a licensing agreement when selling Kinder labeled products.

As your board, one of our top goals and responsibilities is to promote and propagate the Kinder goat breed. In order to do this, we count on our members’ help. After all, our best marketing tools are our goats, our members, and the products that they create together!

We want to make it as easy as possible for members to advertise, register and sell their goats. We also want to make it as easy as possible to benefit from owning Kinder goats. Hopefully, removing licensing requirements from members’ Kinder® products will do this.

Please feel free to contact any board members with questions or comments regarding this change. We hope that the decision will encourage even more of our members to help show the world why Kinders really are the greatest goats on Earth!

Have You Hugged A Goat Today?

With cold weather and shorter days upon us, spending time in the barn and fields becomes a lot less inviting. Rushing to feed, water and milk our goats and get back inside before we freeze can cause us to overlook abnormalities in our goats behavior, or attribute them to the cold weather. That is why, now more than at any other time of year, it is important to hug your goats... even the boys! Er, well, at least a good rub down every week.

To ensure that you have a strong, healthy herd when kidding season arrives, we need to make sure they stay that way all winter. Weight loss and poor condition can come on quickly, and can often stay hidden under thick winter coats until it is too late to correct the problem. Most herds are just coming off the stress of breeding season, some are pregnant, some are milking, and most are dealing with less than ideal weather conditions. And sure... the boys are stinky and the girls are crabby, but do your goats a favor - go give them a hug anyway!  

Conformation - Part 2 - Legs

Breed standards sometimes mention aesthetic aspects of our goats, such as color, ear size, etc., but the main purpose of these standards is to identify the qualities that make our goats more sturdy, healthy, productive and long-lived, and make them requirements for our ideal. Every fault in your goat's legs increases their chance of lameness, discomfort, and loss in productivity, so careful attention to faults in this area when buying and breeding goats is important.

When looking at the leg as a whole, the Kinder goat breed standard calls for legs that are "moderately heavy boned but not coarse. Strong, sturdy, straight, wide apart, providing ample height for udder clearance. Pasterns medium length. Strong and springy with proper slope. Rear legs when viewed from behind set wide apart and straight; when viewed from the side, well angulated from thurl to hock. Hock cleanly molded, straight from hock to pastern."

When looking for the ideal, it is sometimes easier to see and avoid obvious faults than to find perfection, so I'll proceed by listing and describing the most common legs faults:

Weak Pasterns
The pastern is the length of leg from the hoof to the first knuckle, or basically up to their dewclaws. Ideally, this part of their leg should be short and almost vertical. The longer and more sloped the pastern is, the more risk there is of it breaking down as a goat ages, or as the weight of pregnancy and milk take their toll.

Here are a young doeling and adult doe with good pasterns:

I would consider this doe one whose pasterns I need to watch - being only 2 1/2 years old, I would like to see her pasterns a bit more straight. I would only breed her to bucks with very strong pasterns:

The following two photos are of poor front and rear pasterns. These pasterns are long and weak, allowing the leg to fall much lower and further behind the hoof than ideal:

Sickle and/or Cow Hocked:
Not only do turned in knees cause weakness in the rear end of the goat, but in milking does, they often rub on the doe's udder, causing damage and sores as well as discomfort.

Rear legs too much in front of or behind the vertical:
When viewed from the side standing naturally, you should be able to draw a straight line perpendicular to the ground from the pin bone down through the hock to the ankle. Take care that the goat is not post-legged though.

Post-legged:
Viewed from the side, the rear legs of a post-legged will look almost straight, with no bend at the knee or dip above the hock. Without adequate angle to their hocks, these goats loose the shock absorption that correct angles allow. It can also cause the hips to be higher than the goat's front end, putting all of her weight on her front end.
This buck is a bit post-legged - even standing with his rear legs very far under him, you can see the lack of angle in his knee:

Wing shoulders:
Loose attachment between the ribcage and the humerus. In a goat with good attachments, the elbow is held tightly to their side, while one with loose attachments will have space between their body and elbow. Wing shoulders will decrease the strength in the front end of the goat, causing fatigue and discomfort. The way this doe is standing exaggerates how much her elbow protrudes, but makes for a good example of winged shoulders:

These problems can vary a great deal in severity, from almost unnoticeable to so extreme that they affect the movement of the goat. When choosing goats and breeding pairs, taking your goats' leg strengths and weakness into account will allow you to breed for stronger, sturdier kids and goats that "stand" the test of time!