Thursday, May 26, 2016

106 Bucks Consigned

So far, thirty (30) consigners from fourteen (14) states have consigned one hundred and six (106) bucks to the 2016 Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test. Twelve (12) are first-time consigners. Eighteen (18) are returning consigners.

The nomination deadline is June 1 (next Wednesday). All nominations received by the deadline will be treated equally. Nominations must be postmarked, faxed, or e-mailed by the June 1 deadline to be eligible for the 2016 test. Consigners who mail their nominations next week should send an e-mail to Susan at  sschoen@umd.edu confirming their desire to nominate goats to the test. Sometimes, mail gets delayed.

As nominations have and will continue to exceed the test capacity, goat numbers will have to be reduced. Every effort will be made to include all consigners in the 2016 test.

Nine goats have been consigned to the Goat Performance & Carcass Contest. There is still room for more entries. There is no entry fee for the contest. Contest goats may be wethers or bucks.

If a consigner consigns five goats to the test and enters a goat in the carcass contest, there will be a $20/head discount per test goat. The discount will still be applied if a consignment of five has to be reduced to four in order to reduce test numbers.

Contest goats will be fed a hay and grain diet. They will be harvested at the end of the feeding period to collect carcass data. Test goats will be managed as a single group on pasture. They will be rotationally-grazed among six, ~2 acre paddocks containing a variety of cool and warm season grasses and legumes. They will be fed a daily supplement of whole barley.Test goats must be picked up (or sold) at the end of the test period.

State
Consigners
Test goats
Contest goats
Alabama
3
9
1
Georgia
1
4
0
Illinois
2
5
1
Indiana
1
5
1
Kansas
1
5
1
Kentucky
7
29
3
Missouri
3
9
1
New Jersey
1
5
0
North Carolina
4
14
1
Ohio
1
5
0
Oklahoma
1
3
0
South Carolina
1
2
0
Tennessee
2
5
0
Vermont
1
3
0
Totals
30
106
9