How to Read a Goat Pedigree
A pedigree looks intimidating the first time — a wall of names, stars, and plus signs. But it follows a simple, consistent layout, and once you can read it you can trace where a goat's traits come from, judge the quality of its lines, and spot linebreeding at a glance. Here's how to make sense of one.
How a pedigree is laid out
A pedigree is a family tree read from left to right. The goat itself sits on the left. From it, two branches lead to its parents; from each parent, two more branches lead to its parents, and so on. Every step to the right goes back one more generation, and the number of ancestors doubles each time. Most pedigrees show three to five generations.
Sire side and dam side
By near-universal convention, the sire (father) is on the top and the dam (mother) is on the bottom. That means the entire top half of the pedigree is the paternal line and the entire bottom half is the maternal line. Keeping that straight lets you see instantly which side a title, a fault, or a repeated ancestor is coming from.
How many ancestors each generation adds
Because each animal has exactly two parents, the ancestor count doubles every generation:
| Generation back | Ancestors in that row | Total ancestors so far |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (parents) | 2 | 2 |
| 2 (grandparents) | 4 | 6 |
| 3 (great-grandparents) | 8 | 14 |
| 4 | 16 | 30 |
| 5 | 32 | 62 |
If the same animal appears more than once, the real number of distinct ancestors is smaller — which is itself a clue that the goat is linebred.
Decoding the titles and abbreviations
The letters after a name are earned awards, and they're the quickest way to read quality into a pedigree. In ADGA dairy goats you'll most often see:
- *M — a doe that earned a milk star by meeting ADGA's production requirements. More stars and prefixes (like 2*M, 3*M) trace a line of star milkers.
- *B or *S — a buck (or sire) that earned a star through the production of his dam and daughters.
- + — an Advanced Registry award for type or production; you'll see it combined, as in +*M or +B. The type side of that award ties directly to linear appraisal scores.
- SG — Superior Genetics, an ADGA designation for animals ranking near the top of the genetic evaluation.
Notation isn't the same in every registry. Boer goats (ABGA), for example, show percentage blood (FB fullblood, PB purebred), Ennoblement, and EPDs instead of milk stars — so always check the legend for the registry the pedigree came from.
Spotting linebreeding in a pedigree
Here's the single most useful thing a pedigree tells you at a glance: look for the same name on both the top (sire) and bottom (dam) sides. When an ancestor appears on both halves, the goat is concentrated on that animal — a sign of linebreeding. The closer that shared ancestor sits and the more times it repeats, the higher the goat's coefficient of inbreeding, and the more predictably it will resemble that ancestor.
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Build pedigrees free →What a pedigree can and can't tell you
A strong pedigree means the ancestors were proven — but titles on the parents are not a guarantee the goat in front of you inherited their best traits. Genetics reshuffle every generation. Use the pedigree as a starting point, then confirm with the animal's own records: its production, its genetic and pedigree data, its appraisal, and any DNA results. The best breeders read the paper and the goat.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you read a goat pedigree?
Start with the goat on the left. The top branch is its sire (father) and the bottom branch is its dam (mother). Each of those has its own sire and dam, so the ancestors double every generation as you move right. Read titles and abbreviations after each name to see which ancestors were proven producers, and look for names that repeat across both sides.
What side is the sire on a goat pedigree?
By near-universal convention the sire (father) is on the top half of the pedigree and the dam (mother) is on the bottom half. So the top branches trace the paternal line and the bottom branches trace the maternal line back through the generations.
What do the abbreviations on a goat pedigree mean?
They're earned titles. In ADGA dairy goats, *M marks a doe that earned a milk (production) star, a buck can carry a star (*B or *S) through his dam and daughters, a + indicates an Advanced Registry award for type or production, and SG means Superior Genetics. Notation differs by registry — Boer (ABGA) pedigrees instead show percentage blood, Ennoblement, and EPDs — so check your registry's legend.
How can you tell if a goat is linebred from its pedigree?
Look for the same ancestor's name appearing on both the sire side and the dam side. When an animal shows up on both halves of the pedigree, the goat is linebred (or inbred) on that ancestor — the closer and more often the name repeats, the higher the resulting coefficient of inbreeding.
How many generations are in a standard pedigree?
Most pedigrees show three to five generations. Because ancestors double each generation, a 3-generation pedigree lists 14 ancestors and a 5-generation pedigree lists 62 — so the further back it goes, the more complete a picture you get of the lines behind the goat.
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