Noted goat breeder, judge shares advice

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Sept. 2, 2004 - People attending the Aug. 21 meeting of the North East Texas Goat Raisers Association were given an informative slide presentation by Boer goat breeder John Edwards of Stephenville.

Edwards, along with wife Jackie, are owners of Erath General Genetics Services (EGGS), where famed goats, such as EGGSpensive, EGGSfile, and EGGStreme, were bred. The duo are sanctioned judges in both the American Boer Goat Association (ABGA) and the International Boer Goat Association (IBGA).

"With a meat goat, you need to get under the skin and coat, and look at the muscle," Edwards began about evaluating the animal.

Describing characteristics of the Boer goat breed, Edwards said a strong Roman nose, and a rounded horn that continues into an arc, are desired. A wide muzzle and a strong jaw, soft brown eyes, and good width through the chest and between the eyes and horn area are also desired characteristics.

"There is a theory, which is an African lore, if (the goat) is wide between the eyes and horn area, then it will be wide through the body.

"The really good animals can be identified at birth," the judge continued. Photos of kids, shown during the slide presentation, were evidence of this statement.

The goat breeder is also a leader in the goat embryo transfer (ET) industry. He said does (female goats) are born with between 175,000 to 260,000 eggs.

Explaining ET, Edwards said superior does are selected and given fertility drugs. The does are then bred, and six days later, the doe is flushed, meaning her fertilized eggs are harvested, and transferred into recipient does, which must be in estrus.

For the superior doe to be flushed, she must have more than four embryos ready for harvesting. The average, Edwards said, is 14 eggs per doe.

Each recipient, or "recip," doe receives two embryos from the superior doe. Edwards prefers using 10 recip does for every one donor doe. The recip doe of choice is a Boer/Spanish cross, but other Boer crosses are also acceptable. The slide presentation showed the entire ET procedure.

"You can make multiple copies," Edwards said about the ET goals.

The breeder also artificially inseminates does. Edwards said he and his wife will travel to farms for the procedure. Not a lot is needed to perform the procedure, preferably a concrete floor, a control environment and it is pretty much "cowboy surgery."

Other Boer facts given by the judge were Boer goats tend to have more "facets" than other breeds, but "adding more teats doesn't add more milk."

Boer goats with a round body will have more muscle, which is "an indicator of natural muscle."

A little housekeeping about the breed, Edwards' demonstrated, on the screen, how to trim feet. He said the back feet's inside toe needs to be longer than the outside toe; and vice versa - the front feet's inside toe needs to be shorter than the outside toe. The reasoning is, for example, when the back foot touches the ground, the longer toe will pull the hock to the outside. The heel needs to be two-thirds the length of the toe, cutting in a straight line from the hairline to the sole.

Another suggestion offered by Edwards is about tattooing.

"Clean (the) ear with a baby wipe, use lots of tattoo ink, and press hard with tattoo gun. I don't care if the digits come out the other side. Then use either a paste or roller tattoo ink and go over the tattooed digits. Press Arm and Hammer® (baking soda) into wound. The baking soda will cause the tattoo to be raised like Braille," Edwards said.

For more details about EGGS, call 254-965-2639 or e-mail eggstx@aol.com.