Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Recap of 2015 Buck Test

2015 was the 10th year of the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test, which is conducted at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center in Keedysville. The purpose of the test is to evaluate the post-weaning performance of meat goat bucklings consuming a pasture-based diet, with natural exposure to internal parasites, primarily the barber pole worm.

Kiko buck grazing clover
Eighty-four (84) mostly Kiko bucks were consigned to the 2015 test. They were consigned by 25 breeders from 12 states, including Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.  Ten were first-time consignors.

The ten top-performing bucks were selected at the end of the test. The top-performing buck was a commercial Kiko consigned by Randy & Jodie Mazancsik from Kentucky. It was the second year in a row that they had the top-performing buck.  David Peters had two bucks in the top 10. He was named top consignor, an award given to the consignor with the three best bucks in the test. 

The 2015 Test was dedicated to the memory of long-time consignors Merritt "Sam" Burke from Delaware and Craig Adams from Illinois. Both men passed away in 2015. Each had consigned many top-performing bucks. In fact, Craig had one of the top-performing bucks in the 2015 test.

The progress reports and summary reports from the 2015 year's test can be downloaded from http://www.sheepandgoat.com/#!goattest/cbev. Reports from previous tests are available at the same site. 

Read Full Recap of 2015 Test 

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