Dedicated to Performance Testing
Our Kiko goats are tested for performance on our farm… we track weaning and other milestone weights, doe efficiency, maternal traits, birth vigor, and hoof condition. Parasite resistance and resilience is also very important to us, and we track this on each goat using fecal egg counts and famacha scores. We utilize the Goat Herd Improvement program from Kentucky State University as the cornerstone of our on-farm testing. Hoosier Hills is the only Midwestern Kiko goat herd that has continuous participation in the Goat Herd Improvement Program for the last 9 years.
Data is available on all of our goats… the data is used for breed stock selection, culling decisions as well as individual buck breeding plans. We’re always working toward improving our doe herd performance and genetics. It takes a lot of time and effort, but its worth it to help improve this outstanding breed!
Central Performance Testing
We began participating in central performance testing in 2014, and believe that it has and will continue to help us improve our herd performance. Central performance testing brings animals from many different farms and evaluates them under the same environmental conditions. They are evaluated on many factors including average daily gain, parasite resistance and resilience, carcass quality, etc, using the best available science, and usually in a university farm setting. For more information and an interesting perspective on this type of performance test, follow this link: Role of Central Performance test
Hoosier Hills Performance Accomplishments Summary Report:
Click HERE for 2023 report
Eastern Oklahoma University Buck Test
2021: Our bucks did well at the 2021 test…out of a field of 54 bucks our buck #L164 came through with flying colors! He won the Reserve Champion Average Daily Gain award, in a tie for first place where the tie breaker was the fact that his average fecal egg count was 317 epg, which was 75 epg higher than the champion.
2019: We are proud to have earned the 2019 Reserve Champion Herdsman award for our 2 buck consignment! In 2019 our bucklings finished 3rd and 6th in overall ranking and earned us this banner! 2019 EOSC Buck Test Final Report
We also participated in this test in 2017 & 2018. In 2017 our Len8 son, WEB Moonshine, was the reserve grand champion low fecal egg count buck on the test. In the 2018 test our buck was never dewormed and posted average gains overall.
West Virginia Performance Buck Test
2021 Test brings more performance success for Hoosier Hills!
The 2021 WVU test was a really great opportunity to see how our genetics would perform compared to other Kikos from all over the country. There were 170 bucks on test, which made it one of the largest groups ever at WVU. The feed test also included a parasite challenge where all goats were innoculated with 5,000 larvae from the Barberpole worm.
We sent 6 bucklings to the test and are happy to say that they all performed extremely well with them all placing in the top 31 overall ranking. Our L101, a son of PBG Hoosier Ten High was the #7 buck overall. L104, a son of Hoosier Hammer, finished in the #9 spot overall and was the #2 buck for average daily gain. 5 of our bucks finished with an average fecal egg count of 0 and the other one had an average fec of 17.
We are proud to have earned the #2 Top Consigner award for the test. The final report for the test can be accessed here… 2021 WVU Final report
2020 was a good year for us at the West Virginia Buck Test! We earned a spot in the top 4 consigners with our consignment of 6 bucks. Our Dominator son finished at #11 overall out of 127 goats. He was in the top ten of ribeye area measurements and #17 for fecal egg count with above average gain. We also had bucks sired by our Titan’s Hammer son, “Hoosier Hammer”, in the test that were the #2, #8 and #18 in ribeye area and showed good and above average performance in fecal egg count and gain. The 2020 test introduced a parasite challenge which made the test an outstanding measure of our overall performance genetics. Thanks to Dr. Scott Bowdridge for his knowledge, dedication and guidance on this outstanding central performance test. 2020 Buck Test Final Report
2018 was our first year going to the West Virginia buck test…this test is a feed test and measures average daily gain, ribeye area, feed efficiency(relative feed index) and scrotal circumference. We are proud to report that one of the 3 bucklings we sent placed 4th overall out of a group of 124 bucklings. His ADG was .65 and he had above average ribeye average, Scrotal measurement and feed efficiency. He is a son of our buck PBG Indiana Jones, and we continue to watch him grow out on our farm, where he was used over a few select does to produce 2019 kids. Follow the link below for the final report from the 2018 West Virginia University Buck Test. 2018 Buck Test Final Report
2016 was the third year that Hoosier Hills Kikos participated in the Western Maryland Buck Performance test to help evaluate and improve our herd. This test reveals strengths and weaknesses in bucks from all over the country. Our success at this central performance test has been mixed…. however we have gained some valuable insight into our kiko goats as well as others. We are proud of the success we achieved in this test, as it is well known to be one of the toughest in the nation. To read more about this test see this link: www.mdgoattest.blogspot.com
Western Maryland Test Successes For Hoosier Hills Kikos:
2016 Maryland Test:
*Top ten forage contest buck
*5th Ranked Carcass Contest Buck
2015 Maryland Test:
*Our 4 bucks comprised the 5th ranked consignment during the growth phase of the test.
*Tied for first place ranking of most resilient buck on the test, with a consistent dark famacha score of 1
*3 out of 4 of our bucks on consignment had average or larger ribeye areas, one was 36% larger than average. Pictured below is one of our bucks consigned to the 2015 test.
2014 Maryland Test:
*Hoosier Hills buck was the 8th ranked buck on test for parasite resistance with an average fecal egg count of 850 eggs per gram
*Top ranked buck for ribeye area ratio… our buck had the highest ribeye area ratio on the test of 145%. That is 45% larger than the average ribeye size of bucks on the test.
SPECIAL REMEMBRANCE:
Remembering our friend and kiko mentor, Craig Adams
