Membership Types – American Dairy Goat Association

There are several options for membership in the American Dairy Goat Association. Each ADGA membership comes with its own privileges and limitations. Understanding each membership will help you choose the right one for you. Membership is required for participation in most ADGA programs and significantly reduces the cost of ADGA services.

All memberships except for Lifetime membership are valid for one calendar year beginning January 1 through December 31. New memberships after September 1 include privileges through December 31 of the following year. Membership renewal after September 1 also extend through December 31 of the following year.

Lifetime memberships are only available upon accrual of 30 consecutive years with qualifying memberships. Some membership types are not for goat owners, some will not include eligibility to vote, serve as a director, serve as a dairy goat judge or include accrual toward Lifetime membership. There are no age requirements for any membership other than the Youth membership. Youth are not required to have a Youth membership if they would like privileges offered by another membership.

You will not be able to change your membership once it is created except for transitioning from Youth to Individual Regular member or from a qualifying membership to Lifetime member. For all other changes you must create a new membership and transfer any owned goats to the new membership to own the goats under the new membership.

Rules governing the privileges and limitations of each membership type are subject to change without notice.

TYPE	NEW	RENEW	MEMBER RATES	ADGA PROGRAMS	VOTE	DIRECTOR OR JUDGE	LIFETIME ELIGIBILITY
INDIVIDUAL REGULAR	$60	$45-50	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
INDIVIDUAL YOUTH (<21)	$20	$20	✔	✔	✖	✖	½
INDIVIDUAL ASSOCIATE	$50	$40	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
JOINT REGULAR	$60	$45-50	✔	✔*	✔	✖	✔
JOINT BUSINESS	$60	$45-50	✔	✔*	✔	✖	✖
JOINT FAMILY	$60	$45-50	✔	✔*	✔	✖	✖**
JOINT AFFILIATE	$50	$40	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
LIFETIME	****	****	✔	✔	✔	✔***	N/A

* Shows may require that animals are individually owned rather than owned in a joint account.

** Joint Family memberships of no more than two individuals may accrue years towards Lifetime membership.
*** Lifetime memberships that qualify to be a director or judge must have been accrued in an individual membership.
**** To achieve a Lifetime membership, 30 consecutive qualified years are required.

An Individual Regular membership is the most common membership type and is best for those who own dairy goats and want to be eligible for all ADGA’s programs and services.

Individual Regular members receive reduced fees for many services including registrations and transfers. Eligibility for Performance Programs such as Dairy Herd Improvement Registry (DHIR) milk testing and Linear Appraisal (LA) evaluations is included, as well as participation in dairy goat shows.

Individual Regular members may vote in association elections, serve on ADGA committees, be elected as a district director and accrue years toward Lifetime membership. They may also become Linear Appraisers or ADGA Licensed Dairy Goat Judges upon successful completion of the required training and testing.

Association publications such as the ADGA Guidebook, ADGA Membership Directory and quarterly News & Events newsletter are available online to this membership type. Shipping fees for printed copies may apply outside of North America.

Become an ADGA Individual Regular Member >>

An Individual Youth membership is the most common membership for youth under 21 years of age who want to participate in all of ADGA’s programs and services. To qualify a youth must be under 21 years of age.

Individual Youth are eligible to participate ADGA sanctioned dairy goat shows, in National Show and Annual Convention youth activities, compete for ADGA Youth Representative and apply for ADGA Academic and Convention scholarships. This membership type may receive reduced fees for many services including registrations and transfers. Eligibility for Performance Programs such as Dairy Herd Improvement Registry (DHIR) milk testing and Linear Appraisal (LA) is also included.

Individual Youth members may not vote, serve as an ADGA Dairy Goat Judge and receive ½ year credit toward Lifetime membership per year. Individuals under 21 may choose an Individual Regular membership for full privileges. As a Individual Regular member under 21 they may still participate in ADGA Youth activities.

Become an ADGA Individual Youth Member >>

An Individual Associate member is for someone who does not want to register or transfer dairy goats, use ADGA programs, be a Director, a Judge, or participate in Association voting, but wants to receive periodic information from the Association.

Individual Associate members are listed in the Membership Directory and are eligible to receive the printed ADGA Guidebook, Membership Directory and News & Events quarterly newsletter. Shipping fees for printed copies may apply outside of North America.

Associates may access limited services and publications online. Non-member rates apply to dairy goat registrations, transfers or other ADGA services.

Become an ADGA Individual Associate Member >>

A Joint Regular membership is for any two individuals who share joint ownership of dairy goats. A Joint Regular membership may receive reduced fees for many services including registrations and transfers. Eligibility for Performance Programs such as Dairy Herd Improvement Registry (DHIR) milk testing and Linear Appraisal (LA) evaluations are included as well as participation in dairy goat shows if the show rules do not require individual ownership.

A Joint Regular membership can contribute one vote in association elections and both individuals in the membership may accrue years toward Lifetime membership. For voting purposes, a signature card is required to be filed with the ADGA office to validate who is authorized to sign on behalf of the membership. No one only with only a joint membership may serve as a director or ADGA Licensed Dairy Goat Judges upon successful completion of the required training and testing.

Create an ADGA Joint Regular Membership >>

A Joint Business membership is for a corporation that owns dairy goats owned as business property. A Joint Business membership may receive reduced fees for many services including registrations and transfers. Eligibility for Performance Programs such as Dairy Herd Improvement Registry (DHIR) milk testing and Linear Appraisal (LA) evaluations are included as well as participation in dairy goat shows if the show rules do not require individual ownership.

A Joint Business membership can contribute one vote in association elections. For voting purposes, a signature card is required to be filed with the ADGA office to validate who is authorized to sign on behalf of the membership. No one only with only a joint membership may serve as a director or ADGA Licensed Dairy Goat Judges upon successful completion of the required training and testing.

Create an ADGA Joint Business Membership >>

A Joint Family membership is for any family that equally shares the ownership of dairy goats and must only be delineated by family member names on the account. A Joint Family membership may receive reduced fees for many services including registrations and transfers. Eligibility for Performance Programs such as Dairy Herd Improvement Registry (DHIR) milk testing and Linear Appraisal (LA) evaluations are included as well as participation in dairy goat shows if the show rules do not require individual ownership.

A Joint Family membership can contribute one vote in association elections and may accrue years toward Lifetime membership if there are only two family names on the account. If a third name is added, years toward Lifetime membership are expunged for all names on this membership type. For voting purposes, a signature card is required to be filed with the ADGA office to validate who is authorized to sign on behalf of the membership. No one with only a joint membership may serve as a director or ADGA Licensed Dairy Goat Judges upon successful completion of the required training and testing.

Create an ADGA Joint Family Membership >>

A Joint Affiliate membership is available to corporations, organizations, educational institutions and associations who do not want to register or transfer dairy goats, use ADGA programs, be Directors, be Judges, or vote in Association elections, but want to receive periodic information from the Association.

A Joint Affiliate membership is listed in the Membership Directory and is eligible to receive the printed ADGA Guidebook, Membership Directory and News & Events quarterly newsletter. Shipping fees for printed copies may apply outside of North America.

Affiliates may access limited services and publications online. Affiliates ARE NOT ALLOWED to register, transfer or own goats.

Create an ADGA Joint Affiliate Membership >>

Lifetime membership is awarded at Annual Convention to qualifying memberships who have accrued 30 consecutive years of membership in a qualified membership type or are a “The Mary L. Farley Award” recipient. Lifetime members who remain active participants in association services may continue the all the privileges held by their qualifying membership.

Herd names of Lifetime members become permanent herd names when the Lifetime membership is awarded. There are Lifetime memberships within the association based on prior association rules.