Would you believe that a kid that is just two months old weighs 20.8 kilos? That’s the AGF 22 Clinton, an Anglo Nubian goat belonging to the so-called Mitra Line being developed by the Alaminos Goat Farm (AGF) in Laguna.

According to Rene Almeda of AGF, Clinton was born on June 30 this year, weighing 4.9 kilos at birth. By August 30, it already weighed 20.8 kilos, which means that it is heavier than many native goats that are one year old. Normally, most native goats weigh just 15 to 20 kilos at one-year-old. It also means that Clinton gained an average of 266 grams each day.

The father (sire) of Clinton is AGF Obama which has another interesting story. His mother (dam) is an imported purebred Anglo Nubian designated as AGF 1458 Amera Asmara from Australia. The batch of Anglo Nubian does to which Obama’s mother belonged was a total failure in Alaminos. They were not able to adapt to the tropical environment. Obama was one of the few that they have produced from that batch.

Ayie Alsua, a friend of the Almedas from Bicol, was in the farm when Obama was born. He committed to buy Obama when it was ready for sale. Like the rest of Anglo Nubians that the Almedas imported from Australia in 2007, Obama had a hard time adapting to the tropical conditions in the Philippines. Signs of difficulty adapting to the tropical environment were recurring colds and cough. This slowed down the growth rate of Obama and Alsua decided not to take his option.

In October 2009, Obama, now looking good had a buyer, Camilo Velasco. Before closing the deal, Almeda informed him about Obama’s history of recurring colds and cough. He informed Velasco that these slowed down his growth rate during his younger days. Velasco changed his mind so Almeda decided instead to keep him for their Mitra Line breeding program.

Almeda said that Obama comes with a very good pedigree with their Top herdsire, AGF Louca Darwyn, as his sire or father. Based on pedigree and looks, he explained, they opted to add Obama as their herdsire to jumpstart the line breeding program for the Mitra Line (ML) in January 2010. Obama’s look is something different – he has a mottled color, with a prominent Roman nose, long legs and body which buyers love.

Almeda continues: “We never doubted the decision in choosing Obama to be a herdsire in our line breeding program for the Mitra Line in January 2010. AGF Clinton is a testament to that decision. He is the first kid born last June out of AGF Obama mating. The next kid born is also very good looking. We expect to see the rest of the kids out of AGF Obama mating in November and December. We have heavily used him in our ML line breeding program last June and July.”

Last May, Ayie Alsua again offered to buy Obama when he saw him, according to Rene. They declined his offer since Obama is now a big part of their ML line breeding program. “Destiny seemed to have played a part for AGF Obama to stay at Alaminos Goat Farm. Two times, buyers changed their mind to buy him and the third time around it was our decision to keep Obama. Looking back, we could not imagine having sold Obama and not seeing AGF 22 Clinton in Alaminos Goat Farm,” he concluded.

The Almedas’ so-called Mitra Line came from the herd of Dado Mitra who, in 1995, bought from Australia two purebred Anglo Nubian bucks which he raised in his farm in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. In 2005, when Alaminos Goat Farm was starting, Rene bought five female Anglo Nubians from Mitra. These appeared to be well adapted to the local weather then because they were in perfect condition although they were just pastured on the range, grazing on Humidicola grass.

To the pleasant surprise of the Almedas (his two sons, Art and Toti, are involved in the enterprise), the goats from Mitra were really exceptional. They gave birth to multiple kids, one of them giving birth to five kids at one time. The others gave birth to two to four kids each time. Ordinarily, most goats give birth to one or two kids at a time.

Besides being prolific, the Mitra Line offspring were observed to be fast growing. They were also tall and long-bodied. That prompted the Almedas to come up with a program of multiplying the Mitra Line through line breeding. In line breeding, related animals (but not very closely related ) are mated. A half brother is mated to a half sister, not a brother to a sister. This means that the two may have one father but have two different mothers.

The line breeding program started in 2005 with the five female anglo Nubians (does) from Dado Mitra and a purebred buck called AGF Sodel. In 2007, the Almedas added two imported purbred Anglo Nubian bucks from Australia to improve the Mitra Line. These are AGF Louca Darwyn and AGF Edgar. All the offspring are closely observed and those with outstanding characteristics are selected for breeding purposes.

Predictability and consistency of performance, says Rene, are the reasons why Alaminos Goat Farm began line breeding. Because of the superior genetics of the parent stocks, they expect to develop a breed that is not only prolific and big-bodied but also well adapted to local weather conditions.

By the way, AGF 22 Clinton will be showcased at the forthcoming Agrilink trade show on October 7 to 9 at the World Trade Center-Metro Manila.