Roman Noses, are they worth it?
There has been a lot of talk about Roman noses going around here lately. Which got me thinking. Are they beneficial, are they just a fancy point, or are they necessary?
First and foremost, does a goat have to have a roman nose to survive? Absolutely not, I have seen tons of goats without them, of all breeds. Heck, I even have a few. One goal I have is to get even more uniformity with my herd. Fullblood to Commercial, I eventually would love for them to look like carbon copies of my ideal goat in my head. Is that possible, probably not, but is it going to give me something to work towards? Absolutely! Never get complacent, there will always be room for improvement.
So is it just a fancy point?
Goodness gracious, I love me a good old fashion Roman Nose, Traditional South African Savanna head! Something about it is a little majestic on these creatures. So yes, no doubt for me they get all the fancy points they want when they have those gorgeous heads.
So we know we don't have to have Roman Noses to survive, we know it sure dresses one up and makes them look sharp, but does it have any benefits?
When this breed was created from wild indigenous goats on the South African Veld, the humans intervened to select the best-performing animals. They were looking for animals that were throwing dominant traits they liked, as well as seeing what they did not like. This was a process to pick animals that were beneficial to the foundation of the Savanna. Choosing, certain qualities over others to create this magnificent breed. This human intervention was for the ideal meat goat that could survive the brutal weather and conditions on the South African veld. One thing these folks noticed was these flat-nosed goats were developing Roman Noses. They observed on the veld, that the goats that had these Roman Noses had actually performed a little better than the rest.
As I was researching it earlier to make sure I was giving as accurate info as I possibly can, I ran across this article on the ABGA website:
“Dr. Jan Bonsma was a professor of Animal science at the University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. Dr. Bonsma has written several books and numerous articles concerning the interaction of various species of animals with their environment. Bonsma discovered that one of the physical adaptations to a hot desert climate was the Roman nose. The extra space in the nasal area of the skull provides extra room where the air can cool the blood before it enters the brain. In this way, the animal can better handle the heat and reduce panting which increases energy. The Roman nose can be seen in many species of African animals including Afrikaner cattle, gemsbuck, dama gazelles, and of course the Boer goat.”
Wow!! After reading this, my wheels go spinning. Do you mean to tell me that gorgeous honker is beneficial? Last weekend, we spent the WHOLE weekend working kids, dams, and sires. Pulling hair, microchipping on the fullblood kids. Give CD&T and Boosters. Changing out tags on the majority of the herd, that had been lost, faded, or just flat couldn’t be seen. AND, we took 60-day weights on the young kids. So I get my trusty calculator and recorded weights out and go to figure the ADG on the kids with Roman noses, and then the kids without roman noses. When I finally finished I compared. On average, my kids with Roman noses had gained almost 2 more pounds than the ones without roman noses. Is this enough data to say hey guys, I found a secret to putting pounds on! No, it's not, it's 60 days' worth of weight on a handful of kids. Is there now an official spot on my spreadsheet to check yes or no for the roman nose so I can start tracking that data? Yep, it sure is.
Dr. Quentin Campbell was the consulting vet during the development of the breed at DSU Cilliers in South Africa. Bryan Payne did a video interview with Dr. Campbell in 1999. In the video, he states, that the Savanna Breed Standard was created by observing survivor animals in the field. The integrity of the Savanna breed; its distinct appearance and unique history, is thus firmly tied through the Breed Standard to its proudly South African heritage and the demands of the South African environment. Clearly, preserving this heritage demands an industry that adopts the South African Standard.
One thing I see being mentioned is roman nose animals having bad bites and Stenotic Nares. I’ll be honest I had never heard the official name Stenotic nares before. Me and my trusty Google set down to see what I could find out about it. Stenotic nares in short mean the nares (nostrils) are pinched or narrow, making it more difficult for an animal to breathe, and resulting in a lot of open-mouth breathing and panting. I kept trying to find information about the nares in goats and was only finding research on them in cats and dogs. Seems they are seen often in Pugs, Boston Terriers, bulldogs, etc. Seeing those dog breeds really helped me visualize what the results of a Stenotic nare will do! We’ve all seen the dogs mentioned panting, snoring, and just very loud breathers altogether! So I read on further, It seems that stenotic nares are congenital, there is no prevention other than breeding the trait out over generations. Meaning, that this definitely would not be something we would want to breed for. However, it should be something rather simple to cull out if you are paying attention. Stenotic nares will be present from birth. Since I was having no luck finding articles or research on Stenotic nares in goats, I called my vet and asked him if had he ever seen or heard of Stenotic nares in sheep or goats (he is a sheep guy) he had not. He said he would do some calling around and see what he could find out. When he reported back he said it apparently does occur in goats but is pretty rare. There is a surgical treatment for stenotic nares, however after finding out what it affects, I would say that animal needs to be taken to market, not kept for production, hence don't waste money on surgery. Don’t take my word for it, like I said this was the first time I had ever heard Stentoic Nares mentioned, research it yourself. Let me know what you find out. There is absolutely always room for education around here. When it comes to livestock, specifically goats, you never can know enough!
So there's my answer, I’m going to strive for the uniformity of Roman Noses across every animal on this farm, BUT cull the bad bites and Stenotic Nares if we ever have any.
The chances of me having that done tomorrow are slim and none. It does give us one more thing to try and put into the complete package, performance, and breed standard. And in this instance, it appears that one helps achieve the other with this standard.
Stay tuned! I will continue to personally track our progress with this.
As always, keep asking questions!
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