Shaved my first goat today - Shame on you all for not warning me...

[KellyHM]

...about how freaking long it takes! I spent close to an hour shaving her down, getting in all the little nooks and crannies, like under her armpits, etc. I'm just glad it was one of my Nigerians and not a Nubian. 3 more to go before LA...

 

[freemotion]

Used to take me over 4 hours to show clip a horse. Not a track in site, however, and the faces were quite sculpted when I was done! So sorry, no sympathy here!

 

[helmstead]

You'll get faster...takes me 30 mins TOPS these days...zip zip zoom

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

And how many pokey goat hairs did you end up with in your BRA? I groom professionally so I should know better than to not wear a smock when I clip mine, but do I always think to don one? That would be a no... Awful, just awful. But don't they look gorgeous when you're done?

 

[KellyHM]

Ummm, I don't know about looking gorgeous. I can kind of see clipper tracks, although not horribly. She has 2 weeks to correct it. And yes, I had hair EVERYWHERE. I went straight from there to the shower.

And on a side note, while she was screaming for her baby, baby was happily nursing from my other nigi doe (that got attacked by the dog and lost her kids).

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Ummm, I don't know about looking gorgeous. I can kind of see clipper tracks, although not horribly. She has 2 weeks to correct it. And yes, I had hair EVERYWHERE. I went straight from there to the shower.

And on a side note, while she was screaming for her baby, baby was happily nursing from my other nigi doe (that got attacked by the dog and lost her kids).

Did you reverse a blade?

 

[KellyHM]

Ummm, I don't know about looking gorgeous. I can kind of see clipper tracks, although not horribly. She has 2 weeks to correct it. And yes, I had hair EVERYWHERE. I went straight from there to the shower.

And on a side note, while she was screaming for her baby, baby was happily nursing from my other nigi doe (that got attacked by the dog and lost her kids).

Did you reverse a blade?

Do what?

 

[PattySh]

I groom all my own dogs and after doing standard poodles and cockers, I find goats a breeze! I shaved down my buck last weekend in about 20 minutes with a #7 blade. Doesn't tend to leave "track" marks. It's my favorite blade for the dogs too. HOWEVER, a day later I looked at him in the paddock and he had a "skirt" on one leg. Seems somehow I missed a spot! Guess it is a 30 minute job lol.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Ummm, I don't know about looking gorgeous. I can kind of see clipper tracks, although not horribly. She has 2 weeks to correct it. And yes, I had hair EVERYWHERE. I went straight from there to the shower.

And on a side note, while she was screaming for her baby, baby was happily nursing from my other nigi doe (that got attacked by the dog and lost her kids).

Did you reverse a blade?

Do what?

Try getting a slightly longer blade (#7 or #5) and clip against the grain. You won't get any "corduroy" this way. I typically rough them in with a #7 skip tooth reversed, wash them, then use the finish cut blades. Since you're clipping them a couple weeks ahead of time and it will grow back in relatively quickly I'd use the #7 reversed rather than a #5. If I'm doing it at the last minute I like to use a 5 rev on our black doe so she doesn't look washed out, but after a few days it's already too long again. We reverse a #40 on udders and reverse a #10 on legs and bellies. You get clean, smooth results.

Edited to add: Be super careful to keep the skin stretched taut when using a skip tooth on dairy bucks with a whole lot of loose, pliable skin. It wouldn't take much to nick them!

 

[helmstead]

I prefer a T84 reversed for finishing - actually I have like 8 of them LOL and use them for the whole shebang except legs and udder/danglies. But I do have/have used a #7 reversed which is also a very nice finish.