What is in that Alphabet Soup?
Kathy Winters
Red Horse Valley, LLC
RedHorseValley.com
I often peruse one of my favorite
dairy goat periodicals and come
across a beautiful dairy goat that
catches my eye. My next thought is,
“I wonder who that is?” as I search
for the name. More often than not,
the name is buried amongst an
alphabet soup of accolades: SGCH
ARMCH PGCH FMCH Herdname SI Jane Doe 2*M 3*D 2*DLT+ *P 03-02 89 VEEV and her
littermate brother SGCH ARMCH PGCH FMCH Herdname SI John Buck ++*B ++*S 2+*DS
++*B 03-02 89 VEE. What do all those credentials mean?
Many dairy goat registries offer programs to highlight performance merit based on production,
conformation, as well as genetic merit. Some programs are competitive while others only require
meeting minimum standards. The National Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) has
developed Uniform Operating Procedures & Quality Control, originating with the dairy cattle
industry, that are used to identify animals across the country with superior production. This
program has helped to increase milk weight, percent butterfat (%bf) and protein through
generations of selective breeding.
While details of the specific requirements for merit awards may differ across registries, comparisons
can be made in order to understand how the titles are similar. The registries that are the subject of
this review have specific production requirements for Nigerian Dwarves: American Dairy Goat
Association (ADGA), American Goat Society (AGS), Nigerian Dwarf Goat Association (NDGA)
and Miniature Dairy Goat Association (MDGA). The International Dairy Goat Registry (IDGR)
didn’t respond to a request for clarification of their program in time to include them in this review.
Table 1 highlights the titles awarded by these registries. As you can see, some have Star (ST)
programs in addition to Advanced Registry (AR) programs. Generally, the Star programs are either
One-Day or Owner Sampler (O/S) programs, while the AR programs are long-term testing through
the DHIA program and quality assurance. In addition, generational indicators often are included as
a prefix to the title, eg 3*M which means that this doe is the 3rd successive generation to have been
awarded the *M in her maternal lineage.
Kudos to NDGA for having different titles for meeting different requirements! Not all stars are the
same, and NDGA has titles which differentiate those earned by performance, heredity, and progeny!
34 DWARF and MINI