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KALAHARI GOATS


The Kalahari goat is very popular amongst commercial farmers producing heavy, weight gaining kids, which thrive in Australia's harsh outback conditions.

The Kalahari goat was selected as a hardy and resilient goat that produces all year round. They are a great foragers and browsers and this makes them more resilient to parasites. Their ability to camouflage and protect their young reduces herd loss and increases profits for farmers. Twins are the standard and triplets common for most Kalahari goat births.

BREED STANDARDS

A breed standard aims to improve and increase economic value.  

Set by the Kalahari Red Club in South Africa and KGAA will follow.  Maintaining breeding standards will preserve and improve the quality of the Kalahari goat breed and therefore increase the economic value for Australian farmers. 

Red Cliffs Goat Stud

HEAD

Head: Strong with large soft brown eyes and slightly splayed horns sloping backwards

Nose: Strong curved roman, wide nostrils

Mouth: Strong well-formed with well-fitted jaws

Teeth: 6 teeth must show perfect bite. 8 (old) teeth may show slight protrusion. Permanent teeth must cut in the correct anatomical place.

Forehead: Must be prominently curved, linking up with the curve of the nose and horns

Horns: Should be strong of moderate length and placed moderately apart with a gradual backward curve. Horns have to be as round, smooth and solid as possible.

Ears: Should be broad, smooth, and medium length hanging downwards from the head and should lie symmetrically with the top of the nose. Short ears are undesirable.

Cull defects: Over or undershot jaw, blue eyes, horns that lie too close to the head and the tips of the horns must not press against the neck, ears folded lengthwise.

NECK & FORE QUARTER

Neck: Moderate length in proportion to the body, fully well fleshed, well joined to the forequarter essential.

Breastbone: Should be broad will deep broad brisket

Shoulders: Should be fleshy and in proportion to the body and be well fitted with the withers (not sharp).

Front Legs: Should medium length and in proportion to the depth of the body. Stong well placed with strong and well-placed pastern joints and well-formed hoofs

Cull defects: Too long or thin neck, too short neck and shoulders too loose.

BARREL

The goat should have a broad, fairly straight back.

Barrel: Deep, long and broad

Ribs: Must be well sprung and fleshed

Loins: Well filled as possible

Cull defects: Back too concave, too slab-sided, too cylindrical or pinched behind the shoulder.

HINDQUARTERS

Rump: Broad and long, not sloping too much.

Buttocks: Well-fleshed, not too flat and fully fleshed thighs

Tail: Must be straight where it grows out of the dock and then may swing to either side

Cull defects: A rump that is too steep or is too short. A long shank or flat buttocks.

LEGS

Legs: Should be strong and well-placed.

Cull defects: Buck - knees, pigeon-toed, splay-footed, post legged or sickle hocked. Legs too thin, weak pasterns and hoofs pointing outwards or inwards.

SKIN & COVERINGS

Skin: Loose supple skin with sufficient chest and neck skin folds, especially in the case of bucks. Coverings: Eyelids and hairless parts must be pigmented. The hairless skin under the tail should have 75% pigmentation. If breeding for stud purposes 100% is the ideal.

Hair: Short, glossy hair is desirable. A limited amount of fur can be tolerated during the winter.

Cull defects: Covering too long, course or furry.

SEXUAL ORGANS

Does: Well-formed udder firmly attached with 2 well-defined teats on either side. The ideal is 1 teat on each side. 2 teats on each side, or 2 & 1 teats combined. 


Bucks: Two relatively large, well-formed, healthy and equal sized testes in one scrotum. A scrotum with a split no larger than 5cm is permissible. The scrotum must be at least 25cm in circumference.

Cull defects: Bunched, calabash or split teats. Testes too small, scrotum with a larger than 5cm split or a twisted scrotum.

COLOURING

The ideal is a block red goat with colour shadings that ranges between light red to dark red or a block black goat. One patch of colour not exceeding 10 cms is permissible on the feet only.

Grading for  goats

Tier One (100% Kalahari):

Pure Full Blood 100% Kalahari goat with parentage proven 100% on both sides.

To maintain genetic purity this cannot be an upgrade.


Tier Two (Min 50% Kalahari):

Full blood/Pure Full blood Kalahari X with another registered goat.

Must both be registered. Every Kid from these become 50% Kalahari and 50% other breed. Then if you breed from this kid the following applies:

KALAHARI PURITY Min %                                         OTHER BREED

    F1– 50%                                                                         50%

    F2– 75%                                                                         25%

    F3– 87.5%                                                                     12.5%

    F4– 93.5%                                                                     6.25%

    F5– 96.1%                                                                     3.12%

 F5 FULL BLOOD STATUS F5 onwards can be called a full blood Kalahari as long as it meets the breeding standards for Kalahari, but cannot become a

Pure Full Blood Kalahari


Tier Three

Full blood 100% Kalahari X any other unregistered goat F1 F2 F3

Then the progeny that would have been F4 becomes a Tier 2 F1 for registration purposes

Any progeny resulting from crosses of the grade animals (F1-F4) can only be registered in the grade of the lowest parent and can never grade up. For example, if an F2 animal was bred to an F4 animal the progeny would be registered as F2. 

Aussie Reds Breed Standards

Australis Blacks Breed Standards

Bunnaloo Goat Stud

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