Nickname | ADGA |
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Pronunciation |
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Formation | 1904 |
Location |
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Membership | 20,000 |
Website | https://adga.org |
The American Dairy Goat Association or ADGA is a United States not-for-profit corporation dedicated to dairy goats. Its purpose is to promote the dairy goat industry, by providing and circulating sound information about goats and goat's milk; maintaining and publishing herd books and production records of milk goats; and issuing certificates of registration and recordation; improving and developing the milk goat breeds; and providing publicity and service for the goat dairying industry. [1] The principal operation of the corporation is in Columbia, Missouri, [2] and its headquarters are in Spindale, North Carolina.
The association was organized in 1904 as the American Milch Goat Record Association, and published its first herd book in 1914. [3] It published Volumes 11-23 of the American Milch Goat Record in 1921; a comprehensive compilation of details on its registered animals. [4] According to the Missouri Secretary of State, the nonprofit corporation was created on January 15, 1944, [2] as the American Milk Goat Record Association. On 22 July 1965, its board accepted a proposal to change the name of the organization from its original name to its present name. [1]
Many of the historical records kept by the association were in bad shape from age and mold. The association transferred these records to the United States Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Library Dairy Science Collection for historical preservation. The records date from 1914 to the 1950s with some dating as late as the year 2000. [5]
As of 2015, membership in the American Dairy Goat Association exceeded 15,000 regular members. [6] [7]
The ADGA maintains separate official herd books for purebred herds and American breed herds. [6] These are official lists of registered animals. A purebred goat is one that has been born of a purebred sire and a purebred dam of the same breed and conforming to breed standards. [6] An American breed goat is one born to a sire and dam of the same breed, going back a minimum of three generations for does and four generations for bucks. [6]
There are eight currently registered ADGA breeds for which the organization issues certificates of registration and maintains herd books and production records: seven standard size breeds Alpine, Lamancha, Nubian, Oberhasli, Saanen, Sable, and Toggenburg, and one miniature breed, the Nigerian Dwarf. [8]
The standard size breeds can be registered in the Purebred and American herd books for their breed, and crosses between these seven may be recorded in Recorded Grade Herd or Experimental Herd books. [9] Lamancha and Sable breed goats have 'open' herd books, which means grade (or nonpedigreed) goats of these two breeds can be 'bred up' to established purebred registry standards and then registered as usual. [6] Nigerian Dwarf goats are registered only in a purebred herd book and there are no provisions for 'breeding up' grade goats of this breed. [6] Offspring of a Nigerian Dwarf goat which are the product of a cross with a standard size breed or any other breed may not be recorded in any ADGA herd books. [8] No breed purebreds or crosses with Boer, Angora, Pygmy, Cashmere, or any other types of goats are accepted for registration. [8]
The association initially preferred registered goats to be descended from known European breeds, but was willing to accept upgraded goats as well. [3] In addition to its eight currently registered breeds, the ADGA at one time registered several other breeds that are no longer available in North America, including the British Alpine goat, the Calcutta Llama, the Indian goat, the Maltese goat, the Murcien or Murciene, the Norska goat (and other Norwegian breeds), the Rock Alpine goat, the Rome goat, the Royal Murciana goat, and the Schwartzenberg-Guggisberger goat. [3]
The Jersey is a British breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney – now extinct – and the Guernsey. It is highly productive – cows may give over 10 times their own weight in milk per lactation; the milk is high in butterfat and has a characteristic yellowish tinge.
Holstein Friesians are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. They are known as the world's highest-producing dairy animals.
A goatherd or goatherder is a person who herds goats as a vocational activity. It is similar to a shepherd who herds sheep. Goatherds are most commonly found in regions where goat populations are significant; for instance, in Africa and South Asia. Goats are typically bred as dairy or meat animals, with some breeds being shorn for wool. The top six goat industry groups in the United States include: meat, dairy, fiber or hair, 4-H, industrial, and biotech.
Dairy cattle are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species Bos taurus.
The Dairy Shorthorn is a British breed of dairy cattle. It derives from the Shorthorn cattle of Tees-side, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and in Northumbria in north-eastern England. The Shorthorn was for this reason at first known as the Durham or Teeswater.
The American Pygmy is an American breed of achondroplastic goat. It is small, compact and stockily built. Like the Nigerian Dwarf, it derives from the West African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa. Between 1930 and 1960, animals of this type were imported to the United States for use either as zoo animals or for research; some were later kept and bred as companion animals and established as a breed in 1975. It may also be known as the Pygmy or African Pygmy. It is quite different and separate from the British Pygmy breed.
The Nigerian Dwarf is an American breed of dwarf goat. Like the American Pygmy Goat, it derives from the West African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa.
A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders while they are young. The terms studbook and register are also used to refer to lists of male animals "standing at stud", that is, those animals actively breeding, as opposed to every known specimen of that breed. Such registries usually issue certificates for each recorded animal, called a pedigree, pedigreed animal documentation, or most commonly, an animal's "papers". Registration papers may consist of a simple certificate or a listing of ancestors in the animal's background, sometimes with a chart showing the lineage.
The Toggenburg or Toggenburger is a Swiss breed of dairy goat. Its name derives from that of the Toggenburg region of the Canton of St. Gallen, where it is thought to have originated. It is among the most productive breeds of dairy goat and is distributed world-wide, in at least fifty countries in all continents.
The Oberhasli is a modern American breed of dairy goat. It derives from the subtype of Chamois Colored Goat from the Oberhasli district of the Bernese Oberland in central Switzerland. All purebred members of the breed descend from five Chamois Colored Goats imported to the United States in 1936. A breeder's association was formed in 1977, and a herdbook established in the following year. Until then, goats of this type had been known as Swiss Alpine, and interbred with Alpine goats of other types.
The Limousin, French: Limousine, is a French breed of beef cattle from the Limousin and Marche regions of France. It was formerly used mainly as a draught animal, but in modern times is reared for beef. A herd-book was established in France in 1886. With the mechanisation of agriculture in the twentieth century, numbers declined. In the 1960s there were still more than 250 000 head, but the future of the breed was not clear; it was proposed that it be merged with the other blonde draught breeds of south-western France – the Blonde des Pyrénées, the Blonde de Quercy and the Garonnaise – to form the new Blonde d'Aquitaine. Instead, a breeders' association was formed; new importance was given to extensive management, to performance recording and to exports. In the twenty-first century the Limousin is the second-most numerous beef breed in France after the Charolais. It is a world breed, raised in about eighty countries round the world, many of which have breed associations.
Polled livestock are livestock without horns in species which are normally horned. The term refers to both breeds and strains that are naturally polled through selective breeding and also to naturally horned animals that have been disbudded. Natural polling occurs in cattle, yaks, water buffalo, and goats, and in these animals it affects both sexes equally; in sheep, by contrast, both sexes may be horned, both polled, or only the females polled. The history of breeding polled livestock starts about 6000 years BC.
A pack goat is a goat used as a beast of burden, for packing cargo. Generally, large wether goats are used for packing, though does may also be packed. While does are generally smaller and therefore able to carry somewhat less cargo, they may also provide fresh milk.
The goat or domestic goat is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the animal family Bovidae and the tribe Caprini, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat. It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal, according to archaeological evidence that its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.
The Alpine is a medium to large sized breed of domestic goat known for its very good milking ability. They have no set colours or markings. They have horns, a straight profile and erect ears.
American Lamancha, or more commonly, simply Lamancha or LaMancha, is a formally recognized breed of dairy goat, first bred in California by Mrs. Eula Fay Frey about 1927. Later she moved the herd to Glide, Oregon for further development. The Lamancha goat is a member of the Capra genus, specifically Capra aegagrus hircus, like all domestic goats.
Murciana, also called Murcian, Murcien, Murciene and Royal Murciana is a dual-purpose breed of goat originally bred in the Murcia province along the Mediterranean coast of southeastern Spain. The main milk-producing goat breed in Spain is a cross between the Murciana and the Granadina goat known as Murciano-granadina goat. Only the latter is officially recognized by the Spanish government, so Murciana goats are considered a variety of such breed.
The American Goat Society or AGS is a United States corporation located in Pipe Creek, Texas and run by the Kowalik family. The corporation was founded in New York City in 1935 by goat breeders and dedicated to preserving and improving the pedigrees and production records of purebred dairy goats.
National Dairy Goat Awareness Week is an annual observance in the United States to promote awareness of dairy goats. Since 1988, when the United States Congress voted to officially recognize National Dairy Goat Awareness Week, it has been held each year between the second Saturday of June and the third Saturday of June. Local observances during that week include demonstrations of goat milking and hoof trimming, and goat obstacle courses.