Goat tying???? Have to vent!

Just because it's not an illegal practice doesn't make it right. I just question what it says about those participating that they place their own entertainment needs over the welfare of the animal. Even if it's not being outwardly abused, it creates a certain amount of stress on the goat. If you asked people why they either participate in, or go to watch these contests, what would be the answer in most cases? I doubt it would be anything constructive.

sign me up then. animals have always been misstreated from time to time.

i would rather be lumped with animal rights folks than to be like some here that will even defend cockfighters so as to not side with the animal rights croud

what ever happened to moderation in this country? does everything come down to black and white answers?

No legitimate animal welfare group has ever come out opposed to the treatment of rodeo livestock.

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

There is a saddle club in a nearby town that has open playdays. My daughter has participated in a few of them. Goat tying is one of the events. In order to compete for the all round buckle, you have to participate in several events. The committee aproached me about letting them use some of my goats...... I strongly declined that opportunity.
Several adults at the last play day were pressuring my daughter to compete in the goat tying because she has done well in other events but not enough to get points for the buckle. She replied that she couldn't because her Mama would hurt her if she did........and her Mama would probably hurt anybody that gave her a hard time about it. I wondered why the cowboys parted and gave me a wide path thru the crowd when I walked up!
Tana Mc

Interesting conundrum, prevent animal abuse by threatening child abuse.............

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

you are prolly hot ,and they just wanted to get a better look at you

No, Honey! I can assure you those days are OVER. Now-- my daughter was the reason there was a crowd of cowboys there to begin with..... I have to sashay over there and break up that crowd on a regular basis. I get alot of head bobbin' and hat shufflin' as they skulk off.
Tana Mc

Ok that just makes me mad for a number of reasons.
1. Oh come on like a girl couldn't tie a calf, (come on!)
2. They have to tie the goat to the rope, what like whoever is riding the horse can't run the goat down. (ok this seems a little weird to say because actually I think the whole idea of running a goat down for sport is heartless.)
3. GOATS DO NOT ENJOY PEOPLE ON HORSES RUNNING THEM DOWN. Guess what, horses wouldn't like it either but at least they are the same size and breed as the other horse.

Ok, I'm done venting for now.

Kerrin

It's the 'flanking' the calf that's difficult for 110 lb pre-teen girls. Grabbing a calf, lifting it, whopping it into the dirt and controlling its legs during the tying process ain't easy, even for boys/men.

Much of the competition aspect is in control of the horse and the agility of the girl as she leaps from the horse during its sliding stop. Then, of course, her ability to do whatever it is she does to the goat.

Remember that competitions are traditional. Look how long the Olympics have been around. The fact that there are rodeo events for females is 'progress', of sorts.

Remember also, that as goat owners, we know the goats have emotions. Most folks don't.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Seems that some folks think that tieing calves is ok but goats not ok..................

Does anyone notice the absolute hypocracy in such a position?

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

I didn't mean to imply that. You know, it's really hard to discuss something on the board if every poster has to go into every detail of their ethical positions and thoughts and reasoning process on every post.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

waygr00vy, you've got the right attitude. Your post reminded me of a lady in our area selling ferrets. She advertises 'To good homes only; full refund if ferrets not happy.'

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BIDADISNDAT: Aiming to Live a Good Life of Near Self Sufficiency on a Permaculture Based Organic Home Farm

No. It's more about anthropomorphizing. Humanize a goat, and you can't do anything to it ( except maybe milk it and eat it's babys because, you know, it's ok 'cause I really like goats and they seem to like being milked and have their babys eaten, (of course the babys don't seem to like being eaten), but that's alright because if I didn't eat them someone might tie them up......



I'm so confused.............

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

yes.

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A mystery is not an explanation..... on the contrary....no sooner is a myth forged than, in order to stand it needs another myth to support it.

I'm late to this party but I'm quite surprised that some of yall have never heard the term "goat roper". Think of all the bumper stickers "Goat Ropers Need Love too". It's part of our culture like red-necks, cowboys, hillbillies and goat ropers. I'm just surprised that it was a surprise. But then again, look where I live.

Also, one reason I price my goats the way i do is to assure that they are bought by responsible people. I don't sell cheap goats because I don't want to sell them to people who want cheap goats. I put lots of $$$ into them and I will eat these high dollar animals before i sell them cheap and let them end up abused. So I will keep a goat a long time at a high price and rather eat it than sell it cheap to a goat roper....that is what i do.....again, look where I live.

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Diane Rhodes
Feral Nature Farm
LaManchas, MiniManchas and Boers
Member ADGA, MDGA

I was wondering about that phrase, too. When I was in high school in Austin, we played football against a school that was on the north part of town where goats were more common. One of our 'cheers' during the games was "Get A Goat Roper! Get A Goat Roper!"

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

We used to live near the University of MO with its vet school and rodeo club. More times than I care to count, I had these "sweet young things" who had gotten my name from the vet school call me seeking a goat for tying. It was all I could do to decline and get off the phone without telling these little darlings what I thought of their "sport." One even had the audacity to tell me her last goat thought it was fun. When I asked why she was replacing it, she said it had died of a ruptured spleen. Oh, yeah, just lots of fun.

The other thing I got from my using the vet school was calls from mideastern men. I got so tired of having calls for Missus (my real first name) and I think I got so ticked off at one that I told him that Missus had died, then hung up. Not polite, I guess, but enough was enough. Another time, two men came to my house while a third waited in the driver's seat of their car and wanted to buy my herd buck for $25. We'd paid many times that for him. They could afford to come to school from their foreign countries but not pay a decent price for a goat. They kept complaining "we have to pay imam" and I kept telling them that anybody who bought a goat from me had to pay someone to butcher it. Finally they asked to speak to my husband and gave me a look as if to say they would enjoy seeing him whip me. He just told them that it was my goat and if I didn't want to sell it, I didn't have to. They graciously (sarcasm) offered to return a wether to the barn for me but I told them to leave, don't come back and that I'd put him back in the barn myself. I knew a woman who had allowed a group of these men to "return" a goat to her barn. What they did was take the goat to their car, throw down a few bills and the driver gunned the car out of her yard. I did sell goats for butcher to foreign students but they were the ones who were polite to me, agreed to a reasonable price and to my delivering the goat to a custom butcher who worked with these people. It was a situation of a few bad apples ruining my attitude to the many but it didn't take long to figure out who was a bad apple and who were nice people.

As far as calf roping goes, I attended a small local rodeo years ago and on the way out we had to pass the calf pens. Several had severe rope burns across their heads and faces to the point that some were blinded by the burns. I don't watch any rodeo sport. There is no need for it. Any ranch these days can easily and safely move portable working chutes to a site where the cattle are gathered.

Having a bad day is not a reasonable excuse for going off on a virtual stranger! I know alot of people practice roping by goat tying, but it does seem at the very least unfair to the goat and at most cruel. Good for you standing your ground

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"Perhaps I'll have them string a clothesline from the hearse I am in, with my underwear waving in the breeze, as we drive to the cemetary. People worry about the dumbest things!"
by Wendy

Posted by: MOgal: Any ranch these days can easily and safely move portable working chutes to a site where the cattle are gathered.[/QUOTE]-------------------------------------------------------
Ok, I had no need to comment on anything said on this thread, until I saw this comment. Sorry but I have never seen anything so untrue. There are many, many ranches still out there that are very large scale and make this idea riduculous and very impractical. On these ranches, roping is not a skill of fun or sport, it is a skill of necescity in order to care for livestock. We ranch 36,000 acres in S. CO and a good deal of it is rough country that you can only get to horseback. In order to doctor livestock we often have to rope and treat calves, cows, bulls and yearlings and will continue to use this very valuable skill as long as we ranch. A good roper puts much less stress on an animal by quickly and expertly roping and treating than they would to have to gather them and run them into a portable chute set up who knows how far away We also would not be able to look after all of our cattle and be able to check on them nearly as often if we had to haul around portable chutes (and panels of course) to every pasture we checked! Maybe give it a little thought.

Actually Mayloc, I have worked on such a ranch (sheep ranch). It was a huge place with thousands of animals. They *did* use portable corral panels to pen and move the sheep when we did the tail docking, castrating, marking, etc etc. The animals were herded to the site by horseback (and they were fairly calm when they got there so I assume they weren't upset about it) and then we herded them into the corral (on foot with border collies) and worked them.

Besides, we're goat breeders here, not cattlemen. As Tink commented, we do get attached to our animals, because they have *personality*. I've never seen any goat breeder rope a goat or slam it to the ground, much less run it down with a horse and do so. It's absurd and unnecessary and hard on the goat. Can you imagine what would happen if we did that to a pregnant doe? She'd probably miscarry, not very productive or useful.