Jake Thorne, Ph.D.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Sheep and Goat Extension Specialist
The Boer breed has played an important role in the development of the American meat goat industry. Its influence is particularly evident in the show goat sector, where generations of selective breeding have helped establish the muscularity, growth, and carcass characteristics that define today's competitive market goats. These accomplishments reflect the dedication and expertise of Boer breeders and provide a strong foundation for continued progress. Looking ahead, there is considerable opportunity to build on that success by enhancing the breed's influence in commercial meat goat production.
The potential is certainly there. According to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, the United States had approximately 2.01 million meat and other goats on January 1, 2026, a 2% increase from the previous year. USDA's Economic Research Service has also documented the substantial role of imported goat meat in meeting domestic demand, with imports exceeding 46 million pounds in 2017, nearly twice domestic production that year. While imports alone do not guarantee an opportunity for profitable domestic expansion, they demonstrate the considerable demand for goat meat in the United States.
Meeting more of that demand will require continued improvements in production efficiency and animal productivity. Challenges such as internal parasites, kid survival, reproductive performance, and production costs affect the profitability of commercial goat operations. Although some challenges, such as predation, must be addressed primarily through management, others present opportunities for lasting genetic improvement. Traits such as growth, muscling, maternal productivity, and parasite resistance can all be influenced through thoughtful selection. For Boer breeders, combining these characteristics with the breed's established strengths presents an exciting opportunity to deliver even greater value to the commercial industry. The foundation for making that progress is accurate performance recording.
Two complementary approaches to genetics
Livestock breeders have always selected genetics, whether by choosing the best-looking buck or retaining daughters from productive does. Today, we have tools to make those decisions more informative- especially about traits that are “hard to see”, like prolificacy and parasite resistance. Quantitative genetics uses performance measurements, pedigrees, and information from relatives to estimate the genetic portion of an animal’s performance it is likely to pass to offspring. These predictions are called estimated breeding values (EBVs), similar in purpose to expected progeny differences (EPDs) that some might be familiar with in cattle.
Despite its name, the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) serves goats, too. Boer, Kiko, Savanna, Spanish, and other goat breeders can participate. An EBV does not simply rank the heaviest kid, it uses statistical adjustments and relationships among animals to better separate inherited merit from environmental advantages. That distinction matters when one kid was born a single, another was raised as a triplet, and another received additional feed- which all can influence the “environment” that the kid was raised in and lead to phenotypic differences that might not be reflective of genetics. In short, a goat kid with good genetics for growth-but born a triplet and competes with two siblings for it’s dams milk- might always appear smaller than a single born kid who might actually not have as impressive of genetics for growth. These non-genetic factors are considered “environment”.
Molecular genetics approaches the same problem, but is less a statistical approach and more exploration of genes in DNA. A DNA test may identify parentage, detect a particular inherited condition when a validated test exists, or examine thousands of markers across the genome. A marker associated with a trait is not automatically a dependable selection test: many important traits, including parasite resistance and growth, are influenced by numerous genes as well as management and environment. Tests should be validated in the population and for the trait in which they are used.
The exciting next step is to combine these approaches. Genomic-enhanced EBVs (GEBV) add DNA-marker information to traditional performance and pedigree evaluations, potentially improving the accuracy of predictions, particularly for young animals. In U.S. sheep, the GEMS (Genetics, Environment, Management, and Socioeconomics) project lead by Dr. Ron Lewis at the University of Nebraska Lincoln along with several USDA-ARS collaborators helped establish a foundation for genomic evaluation. Several follow-up projects are in the works to continue this momentum. At Texas A&M AgriLife, our work with Dorper and Rambouillet sheep has likewise combined performance records, parasite challenges, and DNA research to understand inherited differences in parasite susceptibility. These developments demonstrate what is possible, but they should not be mistaken for what could be an established, broadly available Boer-goat GEBV system. There is an opportunity (and need) for a goat breed to take the lead in expanding GEBV technology into goats- as it has in sheep, cattle, and many other livestock sectors. I believe Boer goat breeders have the ability and opportunity to lead the charge- consider this a challenge!
What should breeders be selecting for?
The Boer breed has played a tremendous role in shaping the American meat goat industry, particularly through its influence on the show goat sector. Boer genetics have helped establish the muscularity, carcass characteristics, and overall quality that today's competitive market goats are known for. The success of Boer breeders in developing and promoting these characteristics deserves recognition, and the opportunities available to young people participating in market goat projects are, in no small part, a result of their efforts.
Looking forward, I believe there is considerable opportunity for the Boer breed to build on this success by expanding its influence in commercial meat goat production. The breed's strengths in growth and muscling make it a natural candidate for terminal sire programs, where Boer bucks are used to produce market kids from commercial does. However, there is also an opportunity to develop Boer genetics that offer a more complete package of economically important traits. Bucks with favorable growth and carcass characteristics, along with documented maternal productivity, reproductive performance, and parasite resistance, could be especially valuable to commercial producers who wish to retain replacement females from their offspring.
Important selection priorities include weaning and post-weaning growth, reproductive performance, maternal ability, kid survival, structural and udder soundness, and resilience under the intended management system. Internal parasite resistance is particularly important where barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) is a persistent threat. Likewise, a heavily muscled animal that performs exceptionally well on a high-input ration may not necessarily be the most productive animal in an extensive pasture environment. The goal should not simply be to produce larger or more muscular goats, but to develop animals that combine desirable carcass characteristics with the ability to remain healthy and productive under commercial conditions.
This is where performance recording and Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) become especially valuable. Importantly, the greatest responsibility for collecting these records rests with the seedstock sector. Collecting accurate weights, reproductive information, parasite measurements, and pedigree records requires additional labor and management. For commercial producers focused primarily on producing the most “pounds of kids”, that investment may not always be practical. Registered and seedstock breeders, however, are in a unique position to collect these records, use them to improve their own herds, and provide commercial customers with more reliable information about the genetics they purchase.
Consider an example I frequently use to demonstrate the economic value of genetic selection in sheep. One ram enrolled in the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) has a weaning weight EBV of +4.3 kg, a number of lambs weaned EBV of +9.3%, and a postweaning fecal egg count EBV of -32%. In practical terms, these values indicate that the ram has superior genetic potential for growth, that his daughters are expected to wean more lambs, and that his offspring are genetically more resistant to gastrointestinal parasites than the breed average.
What might those differences be worth? Consider a commercial operation where this ram sires 50 lambs annually. Because offspring inherit approximately half their genes from each parent, his weaning weight EBV translates to an expected advantage of approximately 4.7 pounds per lamb compared with offspring of a breed-average ram. Assuming 25 market lambs sold at $3.00 per pound, that represents approximately $350 in additional revenue. If 25 daughters are retained, his reproductive EBV suggests an improvement of approximately 4.6% in lambs weaned per daughter, potentially generating additional marketable offspring over their productive lives. Finally, his favorable parasite resistance EBV could reduce expenses associated with deworming, illness, and mortality. Using the assumptions in this example, the combined value of improved growth, reproduction, and parasite resistance could exceed $1,000. While these are illustrative estimates rather than guaranteed returns, they demonstrate how genetic improvements across several traits can substantially increase the value of a breeding male.
The same principle applies to Boer goats. A commercial producer may be willing to invest more in a Boer buck when there is objective evidence that his offspring will grow efficiently, produce desirable carcasses, and, when retained as replacements, become productive breeding females. This creates an opportunity for Boer seedstock breeders to market animals based not only on their appearance and pedigree, but also on their documented genetic potential to improve profitability in commercial herds.
Ultimately, the objective is not to change what has made the Boer breed successful. Rather, it is to complement the breed's established strengths with additional information that helps breeders and their customers make more profitable breeding decisions.
Which traits have EBVs and which do not?
NSIP’s established evaluation framework includes growth measures such as birth, weaning, postweaning, and later weights; maternal weaning weight; reproductive measures such as number born and number weaned; fecal egg count measures; and ultrasound-based muscle depth and fat depth. The precise set of EBVs reported for a Boer herd depends on the goat evaluation, the records submitted, sufficient connected data, and the traits currently supported in that evaluation. Breeders should confirm the current Boer-specific outputs with NSIP rather than assume every trait offered in sheep is automatically published for goats.
Equally important, there is not a routinely available NSIP Boer EBV for every trait a breeder cares about. Hoof quality, teat and udder structure, temperament, ease of kidding, longevity, browsing preference, specific diseases, and overall carcass eating quality do not yet have validated, routinely reported EBVs. Some may eventually become evaluation traits if enough consistent data are collected and suitable genetic models are developed. That doesn’t mean these traits are not influenced by genetics- there just are not yet tools that remove the “environmental” impact from the “phenotype” yet. We look forward to contributing to future efforts to expand the technology in this area. Until then, systematic herd records and experienced appraisal remain essential.
Why every kid needs to be counted
One of the most important principles of genetic evaluation is that breeders should collect performance records on all eligible animals, not just those they intend to retain or sell as breeding stock. Recording only the fastest-growing or most impressive kids creates a biased picture of a herd's performance. For example, if a buck sires 20 kids but only the five best are weighed, we learn very little about the overall performance of his offspring. Recording weights on all 20 kids allows us to better evaluate his genetic contribution, including how consistently his offspring perform. Just as importantly, records from average and below-average animals help establish meaningful comparisons, making the EBVs of superior animals more accurate and useful.
Recording only the top kids creates selection bias. The poorer-growing kids, deaths, and unremarkable offspring disappear from the data, making families look better than they actually are. This can distort genetic predictions and obscure the very problems a breeder hopes to improve.
Every kid born has information to contribute, including kids sold commercially or culled from breeding consideration. Record births, losses, and reasons for removal as well as measurements from surviving kids. Complete records do not mean every animal must be retained or subjected to every optional test; they mean that the performance of the whole herd is represented honestly.
This also has a practical marketing benefit. Buyers might admire an exceptional appearing individual, but repeat customers are built when a breeder’s animals consistently perform as expected. Reliable records help demonstrate that consistency and allow seedstock buyers to choose genetics that match their operations. Data are not a substitute for sound structure or sensible stockmanship. They provide a second set of eyes on traits that cannot be judged accurately by appearance alone.
Contemporary groups: making fair comparisons
A contemporary group consists of animals of comparable age (within ~30 days) and management that have had essentially the same opportunity to perform. This limits variation in the environmental (remember- non-genetic) factors that can skew the appearance or trait record of one kid over the next if not raised or aged similarly. Consider kids born within the same kidding season, raised under the same feeding and pasture conditions, and weighed at a similar stage of life. Comparing their performance is much more informative than comparing a creep-fed show prospect with a pasture-raised kid from a different season.
Sex, birth and rearing type, dam age, and other known influences can be accounted for in genetic evaluation, but management differences must also be identified honestly. If half the kids receive supplemental feed and half do not, those groups should not be treated as if they experienced identical conditions. Likewise, a parasite-resistant kid cannot be identified confidently from a fecal egg count if it was never exposed to a meaningful parasite challenge. Correct contemporary grouping allows the evaluation to ask a better question- which animals performed differently when given a reasonably fair opportunity?
Building the next generation of Boer goats
The greatest promise of performance recording is not that every breeder will need to become a geneticist or purchase an expensive DNA test. It is that breeders can make more deliberate, defensible choices about the animals they keep and sell. Start with accurate identification, pedigrees, birth and rearing information, complete kid inventories, and consistent weights. Add reproductive, parasite, or carcass measurements as they fit your goals and resources. NSIP and Extension professionals can help producers understand how those records translate into useful genetic information.
Our sheep research has reinforced a simple lesson: genetic progress begins when someone takes the time to collect an accurate measurement on an animal that might otherwise be overlooked. The Boer breed has already established its value to American meat goat production. By recording the whole herd, balancing visual appraisal with measurable performance, and supporting the development of better genetic tools, Boer breeders can help determine how much greater that value becomes for the next generation.
Sources
USDA-NASS. Sheep and Goats (January 30, 2026): https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795751/shep0126.pdf
USDA-ERS. Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook (July 18, 2018), LDP-M-289: https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/outlooks/89615/LDPM-289.pdf
National Sheep Improvement Program: https://nsip.org/ ; https://nsip.org/nsip-resources/estimated-breeding-values-ebvs/
American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control: https://www.wormx.info/fecal-egg-counting
