One of the goals of the first ABGA Board of Directors was to implement a program to recognize the best of the best. Policies and procedures for the Ennobled Herdbook were drafted in 1995 and approved in 1996. Subsequent Boards and several committees labored for another two years to develop the current criteria and procedures for the Ennobled Herdbook. In 2004, ABGA added the Non-Traditional classification to recognize animals that do not meet the color requirements of a Traditional animal.

Only Purebred and Fullblood Boer goats are eligible for ennoblement. Those which attain registration into the Ennobled Herdbook provide breeders with visual definitions of the Breed Standards as adopted by the American Boer Goat Association. The Ennoblement program is meant to provide a direction and an incentive for the continual improvement and growth of the Boer goat.