RULES GOVERNING THE CONDUCT OF OFFICIAL ADGA MILKING COMPETITIONS
1. An Official Milking Competition may be sponsored by any state fair, county fair, local, state, or regional goat
breeders’ association, breed club, or individual, provided the application form and $25 fee is filed with the
Secretary-Treasurer of the American Dairy Goat Association at least thirty days prior to the competition.
Applications received less than 30 days prior to a competition will be accepted, but a double entry fee will be
charged. This application is to be signed by the Secretary of the Fair Board or the superintendent in charge. If
the application is approved, the ADGA Secretary-Treasurer will issue written permission to conduct an Official
Milking Competition and will furnish an official report form, application blanks for issuance of Star Milker
Certificates and forms for certifications required under Rule 3.
2. Competition must be open to any goat registered or recorded in the American Dairy Goat Association, the
American Goat Society, or the Canadian Goat Society, upon proof of such registration or recordation. If the
competition is held at the state or county fair, the rules governing entry to such fair must also be observed,
provided they do not in any way waive the requirement of registration or recordation. For purposes of ADGA
Milking Competitions, standard size breeds are defined as registered and recorded Alpine, LaMancha, Nubian,
Oberhasli, Saanen, Sable, Toggenburg and Experimental. Miniature size breed(s) are defined as registered
Nigerian Dwarf.
3. The owner shall certify to the superintendent in charge and to ADGA the fact that the goats have not received
any substance, nor have been subjected to any other non-routine management practices for the purpose of
temporarily enhancing components or increasing milk production within the last 10 days. This certification
shall be made out and signed by the owner in the presence of the superintendent at the time the animal is
brought into the barn. The superintendent shall forward this certification to ADGA with the completed milking
competition report form.
4. Goats entered in a One-Day Test shall be on the testing premises the evening before. They shall be milked dry
24 hours before the hour set for the final milking in the test. The superintendent in charge, or his/her
representative, shall check each doe to verify compliance with the preliminary milkout requirement. The
superintendent, or his/her representative, may require any doe to be stripped dry at that time to comply with the
requirement. Refusal by the owner (or caretaker) will eliminate the doe from participation in the test.
At the time of this preliminary milking, the superintendent in charge will be responsible for checking the
tattoos of every doe to verify that they correspond exactly to the tattoos listed on her registration/recordation
certificate. Those that are illegible or incorrect cannot receive any *M award. The superintendent in charge, or their
representative, or the test supervisor shall measure miniature breed does. The herd owner must supply an approved
measuring device. (Refer to Appendix “Measuring the Nigerian Dwarf Breed”). Those that are measured over
height or do not have documentation of measurement cannot receive any *M award.
5. There shall be no more than three milkings per day for the competition. Milk must be weighed on a DHI approved
scale, recording in pounds and tenths of pounds. Weighing and sampling must be done by an approved DHI testing
supervisor. Standard DHI sampling and weighing techniques must be used. The supervisor will record the milk
weights on the standard form furnished by ADGA. Component results will be supplied by the DHI certified
laboratory. The report form must be signed by the DHI Association Manager. The official milking out and taking
of samples may not be done in private, but must be done in public view. Further guidelines can be found in the
ADGA publication, Supervisor’s & Superintendent’s Guide to the ADGA One-Day Milking Competition.
Points shall be given for quantity of milk, for period of time since last kidding, and for butterfat as follows:
a. For each pound of milk, one point figured to 1 decimal place.
b. For each complete ten days the goat has been in milk since last kidding one-tenth (.1) of a point, with a
maximum of 3.6 points for standard breeds and .04 of a point with a maximum of 1.44 points for
miniature breeds.
c. For each .05 pounds (.023 kg) of butterfat yielded in the milkings, one point.