Does anyone else show their Goats??

[goatkid]

I show my dairy goats at three shows a summer. One of them is now a finished champion. These are ADGA shows. I also show at our county fair in August and show both dairy and Boer goats there. This isn't a sanctioned show, but lets me participate in a local activity and promote goats in the area. I enjoy getting to meet and visit with other goat breeders.

[Hank - Narita]

We used to show our goats. We showed our Aussie at a AKC show this weekend. Everyone was very helpful and showed us the ropes as we had never showed dogs before.

[chamoisee]

I used to show my goats and eventually I suppose I will again. I got tired of the pettiness and attitudes from other breeders, and I don't only mean towards me. It's a huge strain for me to try to remember who hates whom and to try and keep the peace or avoid offending people. For example, seeing a lovely doe and wanting to remark on how nice she is, and then realizing that you just said that to someone who hates the breeder of the doe. I don't care much about the breeeders, I just appreciate a nice looking doe!! It is such a headache!

I also dislike the amount of over-uddering that I see. Does routinely go into the ring that woudl be lekaing milk, had their owners not glued the teat orifices closed! To me, that's just wrong and inhumane, I don't care what their justification for it is.

Lastly, I quit showing because I realized that my goals were not what was beign measured at the show. I don't need a doe who is well fleshed over her ribs and is big boned and nice looking but needs to be uddered for 16 hours in order to fill her udder well enough for the show. My does go into the ring with 12 hours of milk and still can look uncomfortable from that! Yes, they are leaner, but they also work harder and they produce that much more milk on (usually) pasture and grass hay, if they got any hay at all! Most of the show goats eat alfalfa free choice 24/7 ALL YEAR ROUND. And then they only give 2-3 quarts of milk?!!

Guess to sum it up, I became disillusioned. Someday I would like to be a goat judge and look at the animals honestly, ignoring which doe is owned by whom.....

[Shazza]

I totally agree Chamoisee....but at the moment it is fun and where we show everyone knows eachother very well. My goats are also on the leaner side, to what I call "obese" goats, in the ring...mine are what I call "free range" goats they have 10 acres of grass and bush to browse in...not like some I know that would have no bigger than my Pug runs to live in 24/7. So it wouldnt matter how much I fed mine they would just walk it off. I like condition on them but not "fat"...that then comes down to the judges opinion...but we wont go there will we

[PLPP]

My kids show their Boer Goats. My daughters first show her Buck got grand Champion. It is a ton more fun than showing dogs. No politics it is what it is. I use to show pit bulls will never do that again.

[AnnaS]

This was my first year showing. One of the babies got Reserve Jr Champion togg at 1 month old at my first show, we went to two ADGA sanctioned shows and the state fair.
Maybe owners are more relaxed here. Haven't heard much snippiness, but then again I'm new. Everyone shows everyone else's goats. If you're near the ring with whites on, you'll be showing goats all day.
I had fun and will show again, but I won't base any herd decisions on show wins/losses. I do Linear and am on milk test and these are much more useful to me than show wins.

[Misty]

Originally Posted by PLPP

My kids show their Boer Goats. My daughters first show her Buck got grand Champion. It is a ton more fun than showing dogs. No politics it is what it is. I use to show pit bulls will never do that again.

Oh there are politics no matter what you show....just wait, you will see.

[goatkid]

I enjoy showing goats in my state, but have no real desire to return to shows in a bigger area because of the cattiness. I was in the rest room at one of the bigger goat shows and overheard breeders viciously gossiping about other exhibitors. At this same show, a dairy goat breeder let one of my friend's horned Boer goats out of her pen so he could complain to the fair board that he did not want the Boer show to follow the dairy show because Boers get out. My friend liked being able to show both dairy and Boer in the same week.I also agree that there are breeders who severely over udder their does. At our state goat shows, we have a required pre show milkout to help prevent this. Another interesting tidbit: I am a "dyslexic goat shower" in that I am not as adept in setting up my animals as some of the other exhibitors. A judge at one show commented that I have nice animals who would have placed higher ecxept that I did not stand them up correctly. I am still wondering why she placed my goats behind the inferior ones if she knew my animals were better. This wasn't a showmanship class. In a breed class, she was supposed to be judging the goats, not their handlers. I attended ADGA convention last year and volunteered to handle goats for the judges training class. We were not allowed to stand up the goats because the judge trainees were supposed to be learning to score the animals on their own merit.

[Tracy in Idaho]

I show, and have had a terrific time doing it! Yes, there are some not so nice people, but they have been MUCH outweighed by the great people I have met.

My goats do eat alfalfa all year, but the way they milk 10 months out of the year they have to! <g>
Rebekah! I have two milkers left out of Pete -- and both of them should go top ten this year. Drop me a PM!

I guess the major thing I have learned is that if you like a goat, but are at the end of the line -- just wait. Sooner or later a judge probably will like that goat too

Tracy