2024 Linear Appraisal Debrief

​As always, linear appraisal was a very rewarding experience. It was great to spend the day with my good friends from Arizona (Carrie Cochrane-Desert Bounty and Amberly Hardt-Desert Hardt) as well as my local friends. The appraiser did a wonderful job of explaining his scores and was kind and generous with his time.  Five stars, definitely recommended.

LA came at an awkward time. Kidding season had just started in mid-March and is not yet finished. So, most of the does were still recovering from delivering their kids and I wasn’t able to show the entire herd, but it was still incredibly valuable with regard to breeding decisions..

As some of you know, the system did a course correction a couple of years back. I'm pretty much out of the loop, but the scuttlebutt was that there was some (ahem) "grade inflation." The updated system is very rigorous and the appraiser stuck firmly and consistently to the expectation that the appraisal compares the goat in front of him to the perfect, mature goat.

Just for fun, I looked up before and after photos of some famous actors in order to illustrate what that might mean. So, here's Dakota Fanning in 2003 and 2013.

Now, imagine presenting the 2003 version of Dakota and have the appraiser compare that version to the 2013 Dakota. 2003 Dakota is a less mature version of  herself, so her score is going to be lower, probably in the 70s range. So, young Dakota met 70% of the ideal that mature Dakota represents.

The other thing that the appraiser emphasized (part of the course correction) was that A really meant acceptable, G really meant Good. 

Predictably, maturity played a large role in the proceedings. Here’s how my herd did:​

Name	Age at 2024 LA	#Lacts in 2024	2024 LA	Previous LA
Frangelica	01-08	1	GAGA 79	none
Barcelona	​01-09	1	GAAG 80	none
Wildflower	02-00	2	GVGV 85	2023 FF - AGAG 76
Framboise	02-09	3	GGGG 84	2022 FF - AA+A 77

Comparing Wildflower's and Framboise's yearling scores (AGAG 76 and AA+A 77, respectively) with their 2024 LA scores (GVGV 85 and GGGG 84, respectively) really brings home the developmental aspect of linear appraisal. Both does changed dramatically over the years. 

Diving deeper, I examined both doe's linear traits over time. Here's Wildflower's:

Body depth, strength, rump width, medial, and udder depth can all be related to maturity and an additional freshening. I'm not sure how rear udder height decreased over time. I don't see it, but there's always something that doesn't make sense to me during a session. I'm okay with that as long as it's one or two isolated things.

​Now for Framboise:

Wildflower in 2023, then in 2024.

Something similar is going on here. There are increases in body depth, strength, medial, udder depth, and teat placement that can be related to maturity. Framboise was different in that her dairyness score dropped over time. However, something new that I noticed in 2024 was the idea of excessive dairyness that verged on frailty. Framboise was definitely not frail, she is developing into a powerful doe. So, if strength and dairyness are related, as strength went up, her dairyness score went down. This resulted in a good balance of strength and dairyness.

Framboise in 2022 and again in 2024 - not the same goat!

Given that, and the shortage of appraisers, I'm wondering if it might be wise to go the AGS route and recommend omitting first fresheners from the list of does to be appraised. Their scores are not reliably representative of how they will mature. Additional freshenings can have a dramatic impact on scores. 

On the other hand, it is a valuable tool for vetting defects, which is why I have my bucks appraised. With that in mind, I think that it is best that the breeder not get too excited about the scores received by first fresheners. 

A corresponding trend that I noticed is that changes in scores slow down as the doe matures.

One of my takeaways is that it's important to understand how your herd matures. Mine is slow maturing, with a fairly dramatic change from first to second freshening. 

See y'all in the show ring!
​