# evaluating kids--is there an "ideal age"



## Mimigwen (Jan 5, 2012)

In puppies (since I am much more confortable iin the dog world) ther eis a window to evaluate puppies right at 7 weeks if I remember my Pat hastings correctly, where the angles and structure you see at that moment is pretty dang near close to what you will have as an adult dog.

What age would you evaluate kids to see, structurally, who is a keeper and who is nice,but not nice enough to stay? Amelia and Bellatrix finally had their kids (Amelia last ironically enough). Each had a red head girl and black head boy. I think I see some things I like already, but I know a LOT can change as they grow and develop. Would love to post some photos for comparison at the right age to see what more experienced people thing of who should stay in the herd and who should move on. 

Though Amelia is being such a pissant right now I'm tempted to move HER on, no matter his nice her kids are...grrr. 

Our goats are Boers, is that makes a difference as to when you would evaluate. I have read the guidelines for structure and the "perfect" Boer, but it would be nice to know when the time comes if I am seeing what I should see or what I wan to see, ha ha!

Thanks for tolerating all my newbie questions!

Mary


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## fiberchick04 (Mar 8, 2010)

Very interesting question! I have never thought about it. I am curious to see what everyone says. 

A lot of times we look at bloodlines and make our decsions on that. For instance, let's say your doe won grand champion and you bred to a grand champion buck...naturally we would want to keep the kids. Sometimes we focus too much on bloodline and not actually on the specific goat. 

I know the first 3 kids that were born this year caught my eye RIGHT away. I mean, I immediately saw the improvement over their parents. The last two, I'm watching them grow. I have the little buckling and his mom already sold and we are tentavely keeping the doeling because we have never had a doeling from this particular doe. (Of course when I decide to sell her and have her sold, my husband had a feeling she would have a doeling and requested that we keep the doeling, and BAM she has a doeling lol)
I like to do my picking and choosing of babies when they are a couple months old and then when I really really evaluate is at 2 years..but thats because I have fiber goats. I like to see what their first 2 fleeces are. So first I choose the conformationally correct goats and then wait for their fleeces.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

With my boers....I wait til they are at minimum of 2 to 2.5 months old...anything sooner... babies change so much from birth to then.... then... I price them and choose the keepers.... :wink: 


HeHe :laugh: tolerating.....is no problem..... I love helping... :hi5: :thumb:


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## Anna (Oct 17, 2007)

My kids are dairy, but I usually have an idea of kids that I MAY want to keep. I never set anything in stone (even reservations) till I see the babies. Then around weaning time (3 mths ish) I evaluate them and their fit in my herd and breeding program. I ask my self things like: do I have full sibling already? am I EXTREMELY HAPPY with the sibling? is this kid an improvement over dam? are there any very obvious structural faults? ( feet and legs are biggy for me- seems like that's a hard fault to breed out), will this kid's age match up with what I need for my show and breeding schedules (too many goats in one class for show, or late kids not ready to breed in the next fall)... just things like that. If they fit and I have the space, I like to get them in the ring a few times, and then have them freshen once with me (but I'm dairy! lol) and that's usually my pretty final evaluation. My goats just seem to get better and better with age. My best does weren't always my favorites as kids or even first fresheners. I wish I had the space time and money to only sell two year olds!!!!


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

I have boers too and I tend to pick out my keepers early, within a week or two of being born usually. Then I re-evaluate them, and the rest of the kids 1 month post weaning.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

Some things are easy to evaluate at a real young age. They do go thru real funky growing periods where different parts grow faster than others. With any goat including boer since I know there are rules on it first thing I would check it teat structure. Net there are things that I would check at any age but mine are dairy goats so things like teat placement and width are checked young.


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## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

I usually just watch the kids as they grow up. Some will have certain qualities about them right from the start (such as width) and other things will change over time. Number of teats and how the teats look is a biggy with Boers. You don't want more than two per side and don't want fish teats or any other teat abnormalities. It is also good to look close at the teats (if they have 2 per side) and see if they both have orifices or if just one does. That isn't as big of a deal but one with orifices on both may milk out of both teats. I personally would rather have any doe with just 1 per side as the ones with 2 often don't have both that work, or if the other does it doesn't produce more than a drop which can make it difficult for newborns to latch on to the correct teat. They usually figure it out, but the extra teat can slow the process.

Logan: How do you check teat placement and width on a kid with no udder? I'm fairly new to dairy goats and didn't know you could check that before they freshened. You wouldn't happen to have pics of a kids teats that show the placement would you?


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

PT I will take photos next time I have a few doe kids the same age. You can actually measure the distance between the teats; it varies between kids. I compare a few of the same age to see.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

For Boers, the obvious is enough head & ear color. For the first few months tail pigmentation is no issue as that can come in later. Mainly I go by structure. Is this one promising?
What is the teat structure? Whether 1:1 or 2:2 they must be well seperated, no cluster or fish teats, doelings and bucklings get checked for this soon after birth & on into the first few months.


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