Anybody know of any sites for instructions on market goats for showing at the fair. Most of the children around here show boer crosses. My friends 12 year old daughter is going to show one of mine and I'd like to help her get him ready. Any info welcome.

-- sherry in Arkansas (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 18, 2002

Answers

this might be a lot of help but what kinda questions do you have? i'm sure some people here could answer all your questions and then some.

-- marie (jolly_old_goat@hotmail.com), January 19, 2002.

If possible, you should have your friend's daughter join 4H Caprine, they will work with both her and your goat. Not to mention, she will learn so much from 4H.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), January 19, 2002.

Sherry, unless your boer crosses in your area are of very poor quality there is no way a dairy wether will be able to compete. I did think that was what you had? It's all good to teach the kids responsibility and all, but not if she can't even hope to win? She could start with this and really aim to win showmanship, just depends how many season showman you have in your county. But be honest with her from the get go. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 20, 2002.

Vicki the new baby that I'm hoping will do good for Larenda is 3/4 boer. Year before last I bred my saanen /nubian crosses to a big 7/8 boer nubian cross that's mother weighed over 225 lbs(big ole girl). the doe that come from one of those breedings was bred to a fullblood boer buck this year, so my new baby is almost 3/4, if I done my math right. He is gorgeous and looks like he is going to be wide. My heart belongs to dairy breeds but unless I want to keep kids I breed to a boer. Larenda joined 4H in November but I just found out yesterday that the county she joined in doesn't have a market class. The county I'm in has an active market show at the county fair. The women that's the superintendent of the goats at the fair said she needed to change 4H clubs and could show in our county. I've got to sit down with her and mom and really get serious about this. That Larenda is an up and coming goat girl. Her mom helps take care of my mother and she's here every afternoon after school and is a natural. Yea Vicki my saanan would make lousey market goats, we took a couple of wethers to the slaughter house last week and I was very diappointed in the amount of meat we got back and they were good size boys.

-- sherry in Arkansas (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 20, 2002.

He sounds perfect! Might want to visit over at groups.yahoo.com and check out sheepandgoatrancher, texasboergoats, OurGoatBarn etc. I wish I knew some younger 4H kids who weren't in college, who raised wethers! Is there an older kid in the county that did really well last year that you could pay to teach your daughter showmanship and perhaps a feed recipe? That's how I started my daughter in showing Nubians. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 20, 2002.