Question about showing market/boer wethers

[Fullhousefarm]

My daughter is letting her little brother show her wethers at our county fair. While we are new at goats, we have been planning on showing her yearling LaMancha dairy goat, so we are prepared for that. We know how to clip her, etc. Showing the wethers was more of a last minute thing. He's getting his ear tag today and his health certificate next week. Should I clip him the same as the diary goat? Anything else that different I need to know?

I really don't care if he does super well or not. The county fair is generally relaxed and a good "first" show and my son that's showing him is only 3.5, so I think he will have more fun doing the costume contest and stuff. He's showing in the Peewee division and will be in with 3-6 year olds. I'm sure he will hold his own handling the goat. In the future he could get another market goat to show, but I think it's more likely he would show dairy since after next year we should have a good supply of LaMancha kids for him.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Not sure how you clip a dairy goat, but a wether should be clipped very short, But leave everything from the knees down and make a powder puff on the end of his tail. Trim the uneven hair around the top of his hoof.

Pretty much the key to a wether is exercise and feed and more feed. He should be eating 3.5% in his body weight a day in a good pelleted show feed, and just getting a little handful of hay each day. He should run at a sprint or in bursts to build his back leg muscles and loin. The best way to exercise him is if you are lucky enough to have some sort of a lane or trail that leads back to your barn. Walk him to the end and then let him go so he runs back to the barn. First walk him in this path several times and work your way further and further away.

We don't have the right set up for this kind of exercising, I really wish we did. We run ours behind a tractor, with them on a nylon halter, takes a couple weeks for them to get up to speed and you can't take your eyes off of them incase they trip and fall.

Good luck with your project.

Hope he has lots of fun.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Thanks for the pointers. Sounds like trimming is similar except the legs.

As far as the exercising, we will work on it. He runs around here a lot already. He's a pet/companion for our dairy goat and they have 3+ acres, so the goats run from wherever they are anytime it's time to eat, or we come outside. They also run from the (12 lb) dog when she's being a turd. Maybe I should encourage that some more. He's 8 months old.

What makes a show feed "better?" He gets a 16% sweet goat feed now. Only a handfull of hay, but he has access to lots of grass and browse. We could lock him in their pen more often. Right now they are only in there at night or if we are opening gates/driving the truck back there. Hubby doesn't like goat prints on his hood. Go figure...

 

[Mf628]

When is your fair? A good show feed should be high in protein and high in fat. I like my feed to be 16-18% crude protein and 3-4% Fat. Make sure the feed has Ammonium Chloride in it or add it yourself to prevent Urinary Calculi. Most people say only a handful of hay because other wise he'll get a "Hay belly". It looks very nice on a dairy goat, but not a market wether. I usually take them off hay completely a few days before the show to give them a neat and trim mid-section. Also free choice minerals and baking soda to keep them healthy and eating.

As for excercising, anything that keeps them moving will help. I was told "Go for the Arnold Schwarzenegger look, not the Lance Armstrong." Both are very muscular men, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscle are more pronounced. This can be achieved on your market wether by doing short sprinting intervals. I like to walk my goats to the bottom of the hill I live on (About 100 yards) and then make them sprint back to the pen.

 

[20kidsonhill]

A show feed will have the proper calcium to phosphorus ratio and ammonia chloride in it. You may increase your chances of your wether getting UC(Urinary Calculi) by feeding a sweet feed. Although I do know of a couple people who use it. The fact that he is on browse will help prevent UC, but most show wethers are kept off of browse and very little hay to prevent hay bellies. But this is your alls first year and although I am sure you want your goat healthy you may not wish to spend the extra money on show feed. Different areas sell different brands. Kent makes a good one, So does Purina and Show Rite has a good one as well. There are other brands as well.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Thanks guys. Well, the show was a success. Of coarse, when a 3 year old is super-serious about showing goats like big sister how can it not be a success? Anyway, he actually won best in his class- over 3 (traditional boer) goats, but still impressive, IMO. In the senior class there were 4 show-class boars. The lady that ran the market show said he was really the perfect example of a market show wethers, which is a lot different that what would win in a Boer show.

Here is a link to a photo.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...5.128703253917831&type=1&theater&notif_t=like
He's about <1/4 Nubian and the rest Boer, not registered.

 

[marlowmanor]

That picture is adorable. That little boy looks so serious! I didn't know they let kids that young show. When I was researching 4H for my boys it didn't start till age 7 or 8. I want to get my boys into 4H, but I have to wait till they are old enough. I think they'd enjoy it. It'd give me another excuse to get more goats too!

 

[20kidsonhill]

So cute, brings back memories of my little guy, who isn't so little any more. He is 11.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Well, he showed in the peewee division. Much more relaxed, but you wouldn't know it from looking at him. He's my serious and sneaky child.

If your kids want to show pee wee and are young your best bet is to find someone that has and shows a lot of goats (or their kids do) and ask. Smaller shows like county fairs are ideal. Also dairy shows have younger doelings that show, so they are small and easily managed by younger kids. Not sure how young it's common to show market goats in general. There were tons of young kids at the fair showing in the dairy peewee division. We just don't have cows...

 

[20kidsonhill]

Our counties don't have any younger classes for kids. They start at 9 in our area. And very few of them even have a dairy show. If you want your little onse to show at our fair, you have to have registered breeding stock and just let them help you show in a couple of the classes for 0 to 3 months or 3 to 6 months goats. that is what we had to do for our youngest child to show before the age of 9. It is amazing how different areas are with 4H.