Weigh Day for the future Ben Lomond packers.

[TOU]

Beautiful boys of course

Thx!

As for size, there is no real way to judge when they are young how they will turn out. I have seen outstanding kids who turned out average and smaller kids grow huge as adults. Goats go through growth spurts and your opinion of them can change from month to month. But with the first year being the biggest in growth for any goat, by the time they are 1 year old you should have a good idea on how they will turn out.

This makes allot of sense. I was just trying to get a handle on where they are in comparison based on previous input & trends. I get that there definitely are no guarantees and its all just factors and indicators...that you hope are pointing to eventual outcomes. I do know that they are already taller & longer legged than my neighbors full grown pygmies. Of course the pygmies look like they still out weigh them; considering that they are less than 3 months old, I am cool with that.

There is a standard breeding weight for yearling does. Thats 85 lbs minimum. About half of our does average this by a year old. So I think it would be safe to say if a prospect isnt at least 100 lbs by 1 year of age, then he may need a change of diet, a slow grower or may just not get as big as expected.

Interesting, good information

I really like TOUs expectations. 200/36 is a nearly perfect goat in my opinion

That said, to be clear these are my minimums desired not my targets or maximums. I would be lying to you if I didn't say I would like to see 225-275 lbs & 42" tall.

as that is the norm and would be less likely to develop leg issues. Though I might push it to 220 for an ending weight.

This has more to do with overall bone structure & build, the rest will come. In orthopedics there is a Law called Wolf's Law that states "that bone in a healthy person or animal will adapt to the loads under which it is placed. If loading on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. The internal architecture of the trabeculae undergoes adaptive changes, followed by secondary changes to the external cortical portion of the bone, perhaps becoming thicker as a result. The inverse is true as well: if the loading on a bone decreases, the bone will become weaker due to turnover, it is less metabolically costly to maintain and there is no stimulus for continued remodeling that is required to maintain bone mass."

Basically the bigger & heavier the goat, given time, the bone should build for the load. This is a direct relationship & the trouble comes in when you load the bone with too much weight before the bone is finished or can remodel to adapt. I.E. Someone who is overweight may end up with CV issues but they are unlikely to be osteoporitic.

Unless a prospect is picked up from an unknown breeder/herd, there is no reason why just about any decent prospect couldnt achieve this goal.

I wish that were the case, I just sold two that were from lines that should have indicated they would hit these parameters but my analysis at three years old is that they never would. (As noted, there are never any guarantees.) At three years old, both were sweet in their own way & I hated to part with them but one was a PITA on the trail and caused problems with the group dynamic as well as very fine boned. The other was & always would be fine boned & tiny IMHO. I chose the guaranteed 6 others & am raising 6 more eventual replacements with the most positive indicators I could get.

They would be 100% usable, easy to manage and no real custom sized stuff would be needed. Large goat blankets should still fit reasonable well,

Finding larger kit is a problem I am happy to try to solve if it arises.

could be transported in the back of a truck with a high boy canopy (2 max in a standard bed).

Even more if hornless.

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Great looking boys!

Thank you, I am pretty happy with them so far. I really like that they are not carbon copies of each other & that they all look so different even though all 5 come from only two different sires.

As far as weight goes I have these two quotes on my weight chart;
“In general I like to see our goat hit 50 lbs at 3 months and 120 lbs at a year. That puts them on track to hit 220-240 lbs as an adult.” Rex Summerfield

“Around 100+ at a year is a good weight but not necessarily accurate as far as finished size. I do like to see them about 165 at a year and a half which seems to be a better predictor as least for my genetics.” Carolyn Eddy

From what I can gather there are some breeds that just seem to fill out later than other, even as much as 5 years old. I.E. many LaManchas seem to follow this trend.

I really appreciate posting these quotes, thank you!

My biggest boy is 4 yrs old and around 215, he only weighed 43lbs at 13wks old, but is also a Nubian/Boer. My other boys are all under 200 lbs, heck they're all under 150 lbs! They're great though and I'm very bonded with them so the amount they can carry doesn't really matter. I'll just get more goats if it becomes an issue

Fair enough. For me, I have to fix the number of keeper & potential replacements (8+8 max) as I only have so much space, time & resources. Being as I need to be able to carry for several people, I also need to make sure ALL need to be the best I can find.

Great input folks, great discussion. In the end we all have different needs, desires & what compromises we are comfortable with.

Take care!

TOU