What is 'culling'? Why is it important? How do you know if you should cull? And, how do you know if its time to cull an animal from your breeding program? What is Culling? the definition:Culling is literally the act of removing an animal from your herd, or breeding program. One of two circumstances usually facilitates the need to cull, either: A) the animal(s) has (have) proven/shown that its genetics are just not going to work with your breeding goals, or B) the animal needs to be removed for its own quality of life. 2-Types of Culling
**Castration/sterilization can be considered both a soft + terminal cull for the fact the animal is still alive, but has been rendered un-breedable. Why Culling Is IMPORTANTWhen breeding dairy goats, especially minis, culling becomes a necessary tool for breeders for a few good reasons... Firstly, we can't possibly keep every single kid our animals produce. We have to decide every year which ones to keep, that will lend us the best improvements, and help our herds develop into a stronger dairy animal with the best traits for their breed. And secondly, we simply can't produce a 100% perfect representative of the breed with -0- faults. There is no such thing to begin with! But culling allows us to make better breeding choices. And helps us to eliminate genetics that would otherwise hold us back from making improvements. Keeping only the best kids of each year helps our herd slowly walk toward having the fewest faults possible while retaining optimal productivity. And when we improve, that means we have better kids to offer to other farms as well. When other farms can produce better kids also, the concentration of good genetics increases, and the breed as a whole improves. Not just the animals on one farm. Culling essentially helps concentrate the best traits in our herd and in the breed. Making it easier for homesteads to produce high-volume milkers with those strong dairy udders that last for 13 years. It is absolutely necessary to remove genetics from the gene pool that are detrimental to the breeds we raise. Such as, and especially, severe physical deformity. Terminal culling should be an ace in every goat raisers pocket, but sadly isn't, which is why so many miniature dairy goat raisers today struggle to find good quality genetics to improve their herds with. Bear in mind, every Dairy Goat--no matter the breed, or purpose, is a PET. Dairy goats are pet-livestock to the people who raise and breed them. There is no such thing as a 'pet quality' dairy doe that is different from, I guess it would be called, a 'farm quality' dairy doe. Now, there are 'show' aka 'breeding quality' animals. These are the ones exhibiting the fewest faults possible and the highest productivity attainable for that breeder. But! Even that 'show' doe is still livestock. And is still a 'pet' to that person who is raising/ keeping it. There is no such thing as a 'pet' quality dairy goat. If it is being labeled as a 'pet' with intention it shouldn't be bred (or knowing it has serious faults) it is a cull. When to CullWhen to cull, and how to cull is up to each individual farm or producer. But some examples of when it is appropriate to cull may be:
**It is extremely un-ethical to sell any animal with numerous structural and udder issues as an animal for breeding in a starter-herd or 'pet-home.' If you wouldn't want to start all over with an animal like the one you offer as a pet, or buy another just like it from a more reputable breeder-- please terminally cull, or sterilize these animals. For their continued health, and to prevent serious deformity from being bred and spread in your community. be your own judgeThe best way to determine when it's the right time to cull, is to really get to know your herd. One way to do that is to have a mock 'linear appraisal' at your home. Have someone help you who can walk your animals and help you take measurements. The best time to do it is 3-4 weeks after all your does have kid, and they are all in peak milking condition. Give them a full body clip and hoof trim a week prior, just as if they were going to a show. On the day of the evaluation, separate them by age. Make sure they get at least a 12 hour fill on their udders (so if you milk 2x daily, you can evaluate them in the morning or evening prior to milking). One by one, measure their height. Measure the distance across the hips. Measure the distance between the hip, thrul, and pins, measure the width of the chest. Then pull up a chair with a copy of the ADGA linear evaluation traits in hand and score each doe based on how they compare to the card in each segment. Have someone walk the doe so you can evaluate how she moves. Does she walk pigeon toed? Do her legs cross as she walks? Do her rear feet track behind her front feet exactly? Do her shoulder blades have a lot of space between them? Does her back look more level as she walks? Or does she look hunched up? Learning to be your 'Own Judge' and be appropriately critical is essential for making the most out of your herd as a breeder. If you find it hard to judge an animal poorly, get another livestock person unfamiliar with your herd (if possible) to do it for you. Take an average of the two scores. DO NOT give a favorite animal a higher score!! You must be able to remain objective, so that you can pin-point their weaknesses and find an appropriate buck to breed her to that will help her improve her offspring. After you do your own evaluation-- you can even enter your animals into the TMGR conformation clinic to get an in-depth evaluation from a real judge. The evaluation will only be as good as the pictures you take. So get your animal to stand square and level. Take your pictures in accordance to the guidelines provided for the clinic for best results. Alternatively, the MDGA V-show is also a great resource. And helps to compare your animals to those around you remotely. But the best resource for hands-on would be to find a live show near you, since on-line venues are limited in what can be seen. But at least you can get some idea of strengths and weaknesses if you do decide to just do an on-line eval. Now! with notes in hand-- who is the lowest scoring animal in your herd? What are the faults? How many Faults are present? What is the severity of the faults? Are they all in the same area, or spread out? If no-more than 3 serious faults, its probably time to cull. Especially if you have much better animals to work with. If over 4 serious faults,- Freezer. No more questions need be asked.
Fixing a few minor things, like needing more depth of body, more capacity in the fore udder, or needing a smoother top line are marginal. But if the fault is serious- fallen pasterns, steep rump, loose shoulders, saggy-"testicle" udder, all combined on one animal--that is a serious issue that needs to be terminated from any breeding program. Why? Because those genetics typically aren't fixable, or may take 10+ generations to fix if at all. And once present, most will continue to pop-up in future generations at random. Its not worth the effort to try to breed out. It will only spread and plague future animals.
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