Semtech ABS
    Trinity Stud

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Mob Breeding​

I purchased the first USA Pygmy to import into Australia in 2012. Rather than force interested breeders into the traditional Grading Up program, I introduced the concept of a Mob Breeding program.

Mob Breeding is where all resultant individuals that carry the Pygmy genes have the ability to contribute. For instance a 25% buck, mated to a 50% doe produces a 37.5% offspring. MVP Mike would have been the great grand father of the sire, and he would have been the grandfather on the mother. The resultant kid statistically would be made of 62.5% local Australian genes. 

Mob breeding gives all NPGAA members the oppertunity to created the new foundatuion base of what will become the Australian Pygmy Goat.

This type of program shows its strength over traditional methods of breeding, particularly when the number of USA imported livestock is not in the hundreds, but instead less than 20 individuals at this current time. In addition the number of USA  bucks would out number the female donors by 10 to one. The coefficient of inbreeding in the USA herd is very high, so we know the their gene pool lacks variation already. So when Australians have only imported very few individuals that are already line bred, it makes absolutely no sense not to try and overcome this problem.

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My comment years ago offended a number of beginners when I stated

"If it looks like a Pygmy then it is a Pygmy".

What is meant by this statement is that the breed is simply a pet, it does not have to meet milk production criteria, it does not have to meet growth rate extremes, it does not have to produce fibre of textile value. A Pygmy must simply aim to look like the USA Type Standard and have a quiet dispostion.

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A goat has 60 chromosome strands, 14 more than humans. While it is highly unlikely, but two 50% parents could produce a kid that inherrits 100% USA pygmy chromosomes. Due to the random nature of chromosome distribution within the egg and sperm, all breeders have experinced the diversity seen in twins, where one is wild type and the other is contrastingly closer to our Pygmy standard. 

 

Mob Breeding gets a hurry on 

Those breeders who focus on quality and are capable of identifing the more perfect animals each generation, and only breed from these move their herd forward rapidly. Those that simply go by % alone fail to understand the gambling principle of increasing your odds. Not attempting to maximise your odds, will result in too many pets with limited access to new homes.

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If you don't show, you don't know

Showing is an information gathering activity. From the very begining I saw the advantages of standing stock beside each other in the various classes, and having an independent judge critique the animals in the line up. As the exhibitor you have the chance to confirm how your animals compare with fellow exhibitors. Whether you agree with the outcome is not the point, sometimes we have blinkers on that need to be unbuckled. Breeders should at least attend shows, see stock in real life as well as talk and discuss the topic of type with others.

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From experince, all the finer intricasies in appearance of the USA type pygmy are rarely in place until an animal is in the 90 plus %. The animal is in the unique position that it looks like a pygmy, and still has 10 % of our Australian goat gene pool to aid in health and fecundity. This 10 % allows the breeder to avoid inbreeding depression from breeding one import to another to another. 

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Is there a place for inbreeding

What is the purpose of inbreeing?

There are two purposes to inbreeding.

1) to increase the frquency of the chromosomes in an individual to those of one of the parents.

2) to create an extreme that when crossed to other animals, gives a more predictable outcome.

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1) The current import protocol has restricted the number of USA pygmy goats that have been succefully imported into Australia.

For comparison over 4,000 different Boer Goats ( some potentially from the same donors ) were imported from South Africa to Australia. There have been less than 20 Pygmy donors contribute to the Australian Pygmy population estimated at being currently over 3000 individuals.

I use father daughter matings, taking two 100% animals to make a 3/4 bloodline. For example I will take a full blood Preston doe and inseminate her back to Preston. The result are animals that are more like Preston, then his 1/2 daughters. 

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2) As I create new varieties, it is diffucult to maintain them using the 100% imports which corrects type only. If I want to maintain Cou Claire or Silver, I must inbreed to some extent those indivuals to intensify the variety and hope type slowly is gifted, through having the pieces in the parents.

Another fun fact is the result of crossing two totally different genetic lines, that can bring the magic of new varieties, body composition and intense coat structure. 

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