Press Release

Whose Buck Is Best? Test Entries Due June 11

Goat producers are lining up once again for a chance to prove that their goat bucks are best, and the deadline is approaching fast. 

Entries in the 2010 Oklahoma Forage-Based Buck Test are due June 11, for a fee of $120 per buck.

Each year, the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture teams up with the OSU Cooperative Extension Service to conduct the test, formerly called the Oklahoma Meat Goat Forage Performance Test.

Meat goats’ importance to Oklahoma agriculture is increasing, but there’s a knack to turning a profit.  To reduce feed and vet costs, producers need breeding lines that resist parasites and gain weight on pasture. 

The Forage-Based Buck Test helps to find those lines.

“The rationale behind the Oklahoma Forage-Based Buck Test is to identify individual bucks that carry genetics important in commercial meat goat production,” says test manager Mary Penick.

“This test allows breeders to make better management decisions, also provides valuable information for all goat producers and the public.”

Goat producers wishing to test their bucks' performance on forage are invited to enter bucks in the test, which will runs from mid-July through late October.

For details, nomination forms, and questions, visit the Kerr Center website at www.kerrcenter.com, or contact Mary Penick at 918.647.9123 (phone), 918.647.8712 (fax), or mpenick@kerrcenter.com.

The Kerr Center website also offers free reports detailing the results of previous years’ tests.

Up-to-date information on the current year’s test is also available via the test blog at www.kerrosubucktest.blogspot.com.

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