Body Condition Scoring in Goats

Body Condition Scoring in Goats

One of the most important management skills of livestock keepers is the ability to quickly and easily access the body condition of their animals, on a regular basis - irrespective of the number of animals kept. Body condition scoring enables the livestock keeper to more closely maintain progress towards desired goals of productivity and/or reproduction. Body condition scoring is largely an index of the amount of muscle and degree of fatness of the animal.

Body condition scoring methods have been developed for horses, cows, sheep, goats, and chickens. They are used for evaluating the adequacy of previous feed supply, determining future feed requirements, assessing the health status of individual animals, and establishing the condition of animals during routine animal management. Condition scores are also useful during assessment of animal welfare.

Body condition scoring needs to be approached in a systematic manner. Systems have been developed based on an index of either 1 to 9, or 1 to 5. In each case a score of 1 is used to describe animals that are extremely emaciated, and the maximum score of 5 or 9 describes animals that are very fat or obese (extreme examples may even have difficulty walking).

Why Condition Score

Goat producers need to be concerned with body condition in both males and females. A good body condition can make a significant difference and result in higher levels of reproduction. Nannies that are too fat may not get bred at all. Nannies that are too thin may experience low twinning rates, low weaning weights and general reproductive failure. The best way to prevent over or under conditioned breeding animals is to use a body condition scoring method on a regular basis as a means of monitoring the overall health of the flock, and identifying "at risk" individuals.

Body Condition Scores

Body condition scoring is a fairly simple concept. With practise, a smallholder can become proficient in scoring nannies and bucks throughout the year. In the case of goats, body condition simply refers to the fleshiness of the goat. However, similar to the case of body condition in sheep, just looking at a goat does not necessarily provide a reliable indication of it's condition. The livestock keeper needs to physically handle the animal and feel or assess several key parts of the body. The best places to handle goats for condition indicators are over the ribs, on either side of the spine and over the backbone.

Body condition scoring systems exist for livestock species worldwide, and most are very similar. There are 4-, 5- and 9-point systems for goats, and scoring is always given from a low of (1) for emaciated, to the highest score for obese. The body condition scores presented below run from 1 to 5, where 1 is very thin and 5 is obese. Ideally, nannies should have a body condition score of between 3 to 3.5 at breeding in order to maximize kidding rates as well as ease of kidding.

Different breeds of goat, and those living under different conditions of climate and livestock husbandry will tend to have a range of different standard criteria for assessment of condition according to this general five-point scale. The descriptions given below are based on conditions in meat-goats.

Score		Spinous process	Rib cage	Loin eye
1	Very Thin	Easy to see and feel, sharp	Easy to feel and can feel under	No fat covering
2	Thin	Easy to feel, but smooth	Smooth, slightly rounded, need to use slight pressure to feel	Smooth, even fat cover
3	Good Condition	Smooth and rounded	Smooth, even feel	Smooth, even fat cover
4	Fat	Can feel with firm pressure, no points can be felt	Individual ribs can not be felt, but can still feel indent between ribs	Thick fat
5	Obese	Smooth, no individual vertebra can be felt	Individual ribs can not be felt. No separation of ribs felt	Thick fat covering, may be lumpy and "jiggly"

Spinous Process	The spinous process refers to the individual vertebra in the spine. If you run your fingers down the goat's spine from the shoulders to the tail head and you feel sharp, distinct points you would use a body condition score of 1 to describe the goat. If you run your fingers down the spine and feel lumps of smooth flesh you would use a body condition score of 3.
Rib Cage	A 1-score thin goat has very prominent bones and looks like a walking skeleton. Bones are less prominent on a score 2, but the goat is still too thin.
Loin Eye	The loin eye edge or loin eye is the area you will feel if you place your thumbs on the goat's spine, while standing behind the goat. Curl your fingers down as if you were going to pick the goat up. You will now have cupped in your hand a shelf-like area. This area is the loin eye. Loin eye is measured in terms of depth (spine to ribs), length (hip bones to the last rib) and the width (from loin eye edge to opposite loin eye edge).
Fat Cover	The easiest way to learn how different levels of fat cover feel is to find a thin animal and gently run your fingers from the spine down over the ribs while your fingers are together, but extended. You will be able to feel each rib very easily. Now find a fat goat and do the same process. Now you will notice that you can not feel the individual ribs and that you may feel bumps of fat. The fatter the goat, the more lumpy the fat will feel. In an extremely obese goat you will encounter ridges of bunched fat as you run your hands down the ribs.

Implications of Body Condition Scores

There are certain targets that a livestock keeper should ideally try to aim at during the important periods of breeding, kidding and lactation.

Breeding:	Nannies should maintain a body condition score of 2 to 3 at the beginning of the breeding season, with a score of 3 being optimum.
Pregnancy:	Pregnant does need to be watched closely to make sure they are close to a score of 3 throughout this period.
	Pregnant does should not be allowed to reach a score of 4 or greater since they risk toxemia or kidding difficulty.
After Kidding	After the kids are born and during lactation, it is normal for condition scores in does to reduce. However, make sure they do not drop from a score of 3 to a 2 or 1 too quickly.

Under ideal conditions, does should never be allowed to slip below a BCS of 2. The same is true of the higher end of the scale. Does should not reach the BCS of 4 and should never reach a BCS of 5. Does with the high scores often do not breed, and if they do breed they may have difficulties.

Supplementary feeding can be adjusted up or down by using the body condition scores. However, livestock keepers should take care to make any feeding adjustments gradually. Since the goat is a ruminant, sudden changes in the diet can greatly affect the rumen organisms, and result in problems such as diarrhoea.

Sources and Further Reading
	Body Condition Scoring in Meat Goats. Pennsylvania State University, College of Agricultural Sciences.