Showing Boer goats

[Slugmar]

Do any of you show your Boers ?

I was thinking about it but when I was at the fair this weekend they have some serious huge animals but then again they do grain feed where I'm straight grass fed operation.

I was thinking about doing a experiment with some of my goats to see how much of a difference it would be. I just have never been a big supporter of grain feeding. But to compete in the show ring I would have to.

[Goat Servant]

Oh I dont know about that Slugmar, I dont grain the yr round but when you get into kidding those babies & their dams need grain so there you go; you see bags of grain at shows (:
We grain for the animal not for the show.

[copperpennykids]

To be truly competitive you have to grain "some".

We do grain late pregnancy and early lactating does. If we are attending a show, we start the goats who will be attending on a couple of handfuls of grain and work up to 1/4 of a coffee can of grain per goat. That is generally 2 weeks before the show.

Why? Because they look and feel better with a little bit of meat on them. NOT Fat! We would rather lose than have to make our animals FAT in order to win.

So not necessary to grain year round, but grain before the show will make a big difference in how you place.

P.S> (We also don't use steroids on our animals and some do....)

[Cannon_Farms]

There are some fine goats with no grain, however they are also most likely pulled with chariots and on good rich pastures such as rye and clover. Georgia boer goats uses very little feed for their goats and its a calf grower.
Its all in management and genetics the more you put into it the more you should get back.

[Slugmar]

our pasture is red/white clover and they also get all the black berries vines they want to eat how much do you think a 3 month old kid should weight if it was on grass clover and momma vrs one that was on grass clover, Momma and grain ?

probaly a loaded question no way to tell unless I did it myself but thought I would ask.

[mygoat]

I'm not sure I'll ever show my boers - too many people 'don't care' about disease.

If I ever showed, I would only do it off of my own trailers so that they couldn't go nose to nose with anything else.

[saanengirl]

I'm not sure how the show breeders manage, but most 4-H whethers are raised in confinement and fed all the grain and alfalfa they will eat. They also have a big problem with urinary calculi despite topdressing their feed with lots of ammonium chloride...

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by saanengirl

I'm not sure how the show breeders manage, but most 4-H whethers are raised in confinement and fed all the grain and alfalfa they will eat. They also have a big problem with urinary calculi despite topdressing their feed with lots of ammonium chloride...

This is how it was when I showed in FFA. The amount of supplements & grain was crazy....as was the workout schedules. My Ag teacher went by each goat daily and drenched with AC & water in a feeding syringe.

I had loads more fun when I started showing pigs instead.