Selection Criteria

If you are selecting an animal to purchase either as a part of your breeding herd or just for meat production, you must be able to evaluate the live animal and consider some key facts to make your decision. A live animal can be either evaluated for the meat type, according to USDA’s Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS; USDA, 2001), or by Body Condition Scoring (BCS). USDA-IMPS can help you select for meat production characteristics of the goat; however, BCS can be conducted on any type of goat regardless of its purpose to determine the condition of the animal.