Top Bucks Fail to Generate Interest

Three of last year's top-performing bucks were offered for sale at the recent Bluegrass Performance Invitational (BPI) in Frankfort, Kentucky. One buck sold for $500. The other two failed to meet their minimum bids.

Last year, only five bucks met the performance requirements of the test. An additional six bucks were identified as top performers.  Last year's test conditions were incredibly difficult. Fecal egg counts were very high and a DrenchRite® test confirmed moderate to high levels of resistance to all anthelmintics. So, having a buck in the top-10 was quite an accomplishment.

Peters buck being auctioned off

The three top-performing bucks that were offered for sale at the BPI sale included two of the top five. They were bucks consigned by David Peters (North Carolina) and Thomas Davis (Missouri). The Peters buck (661) was the most parasite resistant buck in the test. It had an average fecal egg count of 364 epg and a high egg county of 964 epg. It was the second year in a row that a Peters buck accomplished this feat.

Thomas Davis had the other top-5 buck (616). It was the 4th most resistant buck in the test. The Davis buck had an average fecal egg count of 784 epg and a high egg count of 1525. It was Davis's first year to consign bucks to the Maryland test.

The third buck to be offered for sale at the BPI sale was consigned by Angie Loos (Illinois). It (639) was one of the nicest-looking bucks to come out of the Maryland test in many years. It ranked second in average daily gain. It was the only buck to be graded USDA Selection 1. The Loos buck was also the third most resilient buck in the test (it tied with two other bucks), having an average FAMACHA© score of 1.17. Only one time did it have a FAMACHA© score of other than 1.

The top-performing bucks in the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance test, last year and in year's past, should be valued for their performance and genetic merit.

Enter Herd Data in Livestocked

Livestocked is an app for keeping livestock records. It enables you to manage data for different herds and species. It is available for Apple, Android, Windows, and the web.  Because data is stored in the cloud, you can synchronize data across devices.

James Cullis from Livestocked gave a presentation at the recent Bluegrass Performance Invitational (BPI) in Frankfort, Kentucky. He encouraged producers to enter their goat herd data into the app.  Livestocked is free to download and use. To access more advanced features, there is a cost of $49 per farm per year.

James is working with the NKR (National Kiko Registry) to calculate EBVs for Kikos.  His goal is to provide EBVs for other goat and sheep breeds.

EBV stands for Estimated Breeding Value. An EBV is an animal's value as a parent; its ability to transmit its genetics onto the next generation. If herds have shared genetics, EBVs can be calculated across-herd, allowing breed improvement.

The goal of livestock selection is to improve the accuracy of selection. Selecting an animal based on what it looks like is the most inaccurate form of selection. EBVs are more accurate than the data from buck tests and on-farm testing because they factor in the performance of relatives, the heritability of the trait, and data from linked traits, as well as the data from the individual animal.

It is not possible to make herd or breed improvement without data. Putting data into centralized databases allows calculation of across-herd breeding values, adjustment factors, and other useful metrics for the meat goat industry.

Download Livestocked today!