4-H? Goat leader question

[InHisName]

Help! I am a goat leader for our 4-H group and honestly, do not know anything about showing goats. We just have them for our family's own milk, but one of the kids in our group wants to show our LaMancha dairy goat. She is putting in her hours of goat care soon. We want to know about the long hair strip down the goat's back- what is it there for, should it be cut off? What kind of shaving should we do for this goat in preparation for the fair? Any websites that will help? Thanks!

[Heritagefarm]

From what I've heard, most of the judges haven't even judged a dairy goat before. I'm thinking it's going to be like a normal goat show: Walk the goat around, hold it between you and the judge, and pinch it's backbone so it stands.

[shiandpete.1]

Depends on your fair. What are the fitting requirements in the rules? We have a dairy judge come in because we will have 25 or more dairy goats in the fair show. Goats at our fair are to have the standard dairy clip, meaning from head to toe shaved completely. Leaving a brush at the end of the goats tail. If the goat is in milk then she should be shown with at least 12 hours of udder. The exhibitor should wear all white when exhibiting a dairy goat. The goat should be kept between the exhibitor and judge at all times, when changing sides you never pass behind the goat but always in front. The goat should have the feet messed with daily and practice setting the goat up so the confirmation of the goat can be shown off. Pinching down isn't to set them up or place their feet but to make them level off across the rump and make them appear more uphill. The 4her should know the history of the breed, body parts of the goat, when the goat freshened and how many freshenings and the age of the goat. If the goat is not in milk then date she was kidded should be known.

I am the main 4h goat leader in our county, have judged a couple of 4h shows, and run a show with 80+ breeding and market goats, I also work with the fellowship of Christian cowboys on their annual lamb, goat and swine show, running the goat show that usually has 50 or so market goats. I would be more than happy to help you out long distance, my email and phone number can be found on my website.

[InHisName]

thank you very much, Sarah! - will email any other questions. Here at our tiny fair, only 3 dairy goats were shown last year, and another of our goats was grand champion all the way around We will start working with her right away.