# Disqualifications in dairy bucks



## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

A lady emailed me and asked about disqualifications in dairy bucks. Can anyone help me answer her questions? She writes:

_In getting into the dairy goats, we were first told not the purchase any dairy buck that had any split or division at all in his scrotal sac, that this in turn had something to do with udders in does.

These kids are showing bucks & they ask me what is allowed & not allowed & I certainly am not an expert on dairy goats. Most of the time our judges are meat goat judges as we can't afford to pay separate judges for boer, dairy, & other breeds. Sometimes the judges ask me & I would like to say one way or the other what is right or accepted

I am hoping you can shed some light on this matter for us or please tell me where to go to find our answers. Here are my questions:

Can a dairy buck have a split in his scrotal sac?
In the boers anywhere from a 1-2" split is allowed & looks like a lazy w

If they cannot have a split in the sac, is it a disqualification to have one?

Or if they can have a split how much is allowed?

We had a young girl show with us this weekend & had a nice young buckling in the 3-6 month class, but he has about 1/2-3/4" split in his scrotal sac. We had two other nubian bucks that showed, one buckling 0-3 & one buck 12-18 & neither of them had a split in their sac & they placed over the other buck, but an explanation was not given so we don't know if it was because of the scrotal sac or not._


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

I had a buck that was split kinda. you could see two sacks, with a small divide, kinda like a "W" and I asked a judge at a show once about that. She said that it was okay for bucks to have that as long as both testicals were the same size. In otherwords if the testicals were split, one side could not be small and the other side large. They had to be of a consistant size.

Sheryl


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

I don't know about the qualifications to show bucks. But the idea of a correlation between the size or shape or condition of the sac and the udder of a daughter makes no sense to me. Is there a correlation between the testicles of a man and his daughters...ah...mammary systems?

But then, I have been wrong before (shrug)


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## Rose (Oct 26, 2007)

The buck's scrotum and testicles would correspond to ovaries, I do believe. Not mammaries.


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Harvey Considine once told me that bucks with tight (next to the body) scrotums would produce daughters whose mammaries were well attached. Those with loose dangling scrotums would produce mammaries that were poorly attached. 

I still believe this notion is nonsense. Scrotums tighten and loosen due to temperature. The good Lord designed them to protect the viability of the seed by keeping the proper temperature.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

UH Tim that last statment you made re: Harvey is saying the exact same thing.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

ADGA judging info:

F. JUDGING MALES by Allan L. Rogers
The buck is indeed half the herd, and it is appropriate that he compete in the show ring. In judging does, we are assessing the worth of the individual herself. Judging bucks is different, however. While we assess his ability to be able to physically reproduce, we primarily judge him as an individual only on those features which will affect his offspring such as soundness, body capacity, and dairy character. Obviously, it is impossible to tell how much milk his daughters will produce, their butterfat test, or their length of lactation period.

Unfortunately, many bucks have not been raised properly; consequently when they are brought into the show ring, they may not present a true picture of their actual ability as a sire. Proper nutrition, freedom from disease, and good environment can affect a buck's size of body development, and a lack of exercise can certainly make his legs appear weak. When they are in the ring, however, we have no choice but to judge them as we see them and cannot say, "If this animal had been better fed, he would be large enough, et cetera."

Because he has no mammary development, the buck's appearance, dairy character, and body capacity are all allotted more points than they would be on an adult doe. In addition we must also assess evidence of abilities to reproduce. We should always remember, however, that the worth of a buck in the ring is the sum of his good qualities and not a sum of his bad ones.

Appearance
He should display strength and masculinity without coarseness. His lines should be clean cut, his parts should fit together properly, and he should move alertly.
Dairy Character
He should display angularity, general openness, freedom from beefiness, and animation.
Body Capacity
He should be large in proportion to size providing ample strength and vigor.
Reproductive Organs
Testicles should be approximately the same size and both carried in a strongly attached scrotum. He should have two cylindrical teats of medium size, space well apart.


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks Sondra,
I fixed it! BTW, thanks for the article on "Judging Males" that was helpful!


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

just on a side note in AU the do have a min centimeter for split


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Dairy Goat Judging Techniques, Second Edition, Harvey Considine and George W. Trimberger
The only disqualification listed as far as the testicles is that they should have 2 decended testes. A buck with a single testicle is disqualified.


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