GUIDE TO AN ADGA JUDGE’S LICENSE

There are several steps to becoming licensed to judge dairy goats at an officially sanctioned ADGA show. This involves achieving a basic knowledge by attending a Pre-Judge’s Training Conference and then attending a Judge’s Training Conference and passing a series of four basic tests of proficiency.
Pre-Judges Training Conference This program is for breeders, youth, and judge candidates. It consists of a full day of instruction. It has a prescribed content that includes the parts of the goat, scorecards, terminology, breed standards, defects, oral reasons, judging techniques, and ethics.
Training Conference The Training Conference is a more formalized program of training and testing of judge candidates. A specified fee is charged for the program, as set by the Judge’s Training Committee. There is one day of training and one day of testing, which includes a written test, the placement of eight classes of live animals, and the presentation of oral reasons to evaluate a candidate’s accuracy and presentation skills. These tests must be passed at specific standards of performance in order for a license to be granted. For lesser fees, the TC may also be taken as an auditor or as a spectator, though these two classifications will not result in licensure.
Licensing There are several levels of licensure. Successful new candidates start with a One-Year Apprentice License. This must be renewed the following year and if successfully passed at a higher standard, can become a Two-Year License. From this level, a Four-Year License can be achieved at renewal but ever higher levels of performance are required. After this, with continuous renewal and licensure of at least 13 years, an Advanced License may be achieved. Beyond this point, advanced judges must attend judging seminars every four years to maintain their status.

• Judge Preparation Checklist
• So You Are Going To Be a Judge
• Eligibility, Certification & Obligations
• Pre Judges Training Conference (Pre-TC)
• Pre-TC Lesson Materials 
• Training Conferences
• What to expect at a TC

Dairy Goat Structure and Function

• The Parts of the Goat
• The Ideal Type
• ADGA Unified Scorecard
• Applications of the Unified Scorecard
• General Defects – Summary
• General Defects – Discussion
• The breed standards
• Breed Specific Defects-Summary
• Breed specific defects – discussion
• Disqualifications -Summary and Discussion

Judging Dairy Goats

• Reasons
• Terminology
• Reasons Tutorial
• Practice Class 6
  Yearling LaMancha Milkers
• Practice Class 7
  3-Year Old Alpine Milkers
• Practice Class 8
  3-Year Old LaMancha Milkers
• Practice Class 9
  4-Year Old Nubian Milkers
• Pictures for practice reasons
• Maturation
• Profiles
• Judging Males
• Judging Groups
• Showmanship Scorecard