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Education - Publications - Live & Carcass Evaluation
Grades of Goats and Lambs for Northeast Markets The
advisory board of the NESGMP proposed that grading standards be developed
for goats and lambs for the special marketing conditions that exist in the
Northeastern United States. An advisory board committee composed of
Susan Schoenian, Mike Thonney, and Susan Truehart Garey with Joe
Regenstein as Chair suggested the following guidelines.
USDA goat standards
Select 1 Goats possessing minimum qualifications are moderately thickly muscled throughout. The back and loin are moderately wide and shoulders and hips are moderately neat and blend smoothly into the body. There is a slight fullness or plumpness over the rib, loin, rump and legs that contributes to a somewhat rounded and moderately refined appearance.
Select 2 Goats possessing minimum qualifications are slightly thickly muscled throughout. The back and loin are slightly wide with loin, rump, and leg almost flat with little or no evidence of fullness. The hips and shoulders are somewhat smoothly laid in, but appear slightly
prominent and contribute to a slightly refined appearance.
Select 3 Goats possessing minimum qualifications are thinly muscled throughout. The back, loin, and rump are narrow with a slightly sunken appearance. Legs are tapering and narrow with hips and shoulders somewhat prominent. Goats usually show either heavy bones and thin fleshing associated with coarseness or small bones and angularity denoting over-refinement.
Cull Goats possessing cull qualifications are very thinly muscled throughout. The back, loin, and rump show little indication of muscling and have moderate to great shrunken appearance. Legs are very tapering and narrow with hips and shoulders very prominent. Goats are often those culled for inadequate frame size or body capacity or those with reproductive deficiencies.
Evaluation of Slaughter Goat Selection and Goat Meat Classification Systems
http://www.boergoats.com/articles/meat-news/evalslectclassifysystems.htm
Goat grading standards from VA Department of Agriculture http://www.vdacs.state.va.us/livestock/goatgrades.html
Lamb Grading Standards Lamb buyers in the
Northeast prefer to assess specialty lambs based upon thickness and
plumpness. The following grade classifications are used: Blue:
Lambs are in good physical condition and have sufficient cover so that the
backbone is barely distinguishable by placing a hand over the back. On a
body condition score ranging from 1 to 5, these lambs would be placed in
body condition 3 to 4. Red:
Lambs are in good physical condition but do not have sufficient cover to
fall into the blue category. The backbone is distinguishable by
placing a hand over the back but the vertebrae do not protrude sharply. On
a body condition score ranging from 1 to 5, these lambs would be placed in
body condition 2 to 3. Green:
Lambs are thin and/or in poor physical condition so that they are not
ready for market. Standards
for commodity lambs
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