# Age of Conformation?



## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Was curious; for standard goats, what would you say is the age you can start guesstimating their conformation? When does their conformation become "solid"? Same questions for smaller breeds.
onder:


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Really tough question! I have some boer does from lines that continue to grow and fill in through age 3. I am also fairly bad at choosing the best kids until they are 5 or so months old. It always surprised me when folks pick out 2 or 3 day old kids from a breeder!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

It is a tough question. I can generally tell from the 2nd day which one is going to be better out of a group. Can I tell what they are going to turn out like? Not until they are a little older. I see a lot that I can say "IF they keep growing they are gonna be good". But that is a big IF. There are times, IMO, that you CAN pick out an exceptional kid from a very young age. I knew from day one that out of a set of twins, the red one was gonna be WAY better than the paint. So far, I'm correct on that one. Now....can I actually explain WHY I might feel that way about a kid? No, I can't. LOL


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

It gets tricky when the kids have similar conformation. Out of a set of triplets, at day 4 I chose which I would keep based on their current conformation/gut feeling. I had the pleasure of watching them grow, the others having been chosen by 4Hers and thus having no chance of reneging, and was pleasantly surprised when my doe 'tied' for conformation with my initial second-place. Now, a month and a half later, she's grown into a very pretty young doe, and I'm glad I chose to keep her of the three. 

That was a rare case. It usually isn't as black and white, and I'll generally keep 2-3 kids to see who develops the best. 8-10 months is when I can generally see their 'final' shape (mine are very slow developers).


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Thank you all for your replies so far! I know horses take a few years before they're truly done growing enough to get a good conformation on them. Been browsing show pictures and was pretty curious about it, so I asked! I understand the gut feeling. Sometimes you look at an animal and you just know, _that one is gonna be gorgeous._


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

With the dairy goats, I pick the strongest topline, biggest front end, widest body, straightest hind legs (toes point straight ahead), shortest pasturns and deepest body. I can tell by the time they are 1-2 days old. As soon as they are dry and walking well I start evaluating them.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> With the dairy goats, I pick the strongest topline, biggest front end, widest body, straightest hind legs (toes point straight ahead), shortest pasturns and deepest body. I can tell by the time they are 1-2 days old. As soon as they are dry and walking well I start evaluating them.


Straight hind legs are good in dairy goats?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Not in the sense that they are posty, but their legs should point straight ahead, front legs and back legs. You don't want them to have their hocks close together with their toes pointing out away from the body, and you don't want them with their toes pointing inward and their hocks out away from each other.
So not cow hocked, or pigeon toed, the legs should point straight ahead, not just in dairy goats, but all breeds.


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## Sylvie (Feb 18, 2013)

Waldo said:


> Straight hind legs are good in dairy goats?


Straight as in toes point straight ahead, yes.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Oh gosh it is SO hard! On rare occasion I have picked out a nice keeper buck.
To me, they all seem to grow funny & go through these gangly stages when I'm are convinced that I've lost my mind.
Then there was this 6 mo old doe. Though pretty, was nothing spectacular to me. But my mentor came one day & she caught her eye.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> Not in the sense that they are posty, but their legs should point straight ahead, front legs and back legs. You don't want them to have their hocks close together with their toes pointing out away from the body, and you don't want them with their toes pointing inward and their hocks out away from each other.
> So not cow hocked, or pigeon toed, the legs should point straight ahead, not just in dairy goats, but all breeds.


Oooh, I understand now. Thank you for the explanation.


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## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

We evaulate our kids at about 1 month old. By then, they have gained some weight and grew a lot. You can definitely guess earlier than that too! That's when the fun begins. Start taking bets on who will be the best.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

CountyLineAcres said:


> We evaulate our kids at about 1 month old. By then, they have gained some weight and grew a lot. You can definitely guess earlier than that too! That's when the fun begins. Start taking bets on who will be the best.


My big kids (twins) both look good, in my opinion... but I have to say, I really admire my buck, Sugar. He seems pretty square, is nice and tall, and has a broad head. I'm not sure about goat conf specifically, but I'm not terrible at eye-balling animals in general. I really wanna see what Sugar would like like as a full grown adult.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

CountyLineAcres said:


> We evaulate our kids at about 1 month old. By then, they have gained some weight and grew a lot. You can definitely guess earlier than that too! That's when the fun begins. Start taking bets on who will be the best.


I do the same at 1 month old.

That way, I know what direction they are going.


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## Barnes19 (Sep 8, 2013)

Tricky.

As very young kids, it is not too difficult to tell which is best. But, trying to say "This goat will be uphill, have a level chine, well attached udder" etc well thats verging on impossible at that age ... for me anyway. Some things, such as the legs, possibly shoulder, body length, etc, are clear enough if you have several kids to compare.

Other factors such as topline, body capacity etc change about a bit while they're growing. Easy to choose the strongest in this regard if you have several kids to compare, not so much if you're looking at one kid to buy.

But, I do find, if a kid has say a strong topline, and is looking potentially uphill, although that may change, and go up and down several times with growth spurts, chances are she'll finish looking much like you thought she would as a kid.

By the time they're a month old you're getting a better look. At 6 months old you can start to see some new traits. Although their body capacity will increase as they mature, and right now they probably still lack depth of body, you can clearly see whether they will be good in future. Strength of topline should be pretty obvious. Most of your conformation traits will be apparent. Uphill or not may still change.

The finishing touches will keep going for a couple of years probably ... but you can tell how they will be long before that.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Does anyone happen to have good conformation photos that aren't drawings?


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