Goats in Gatorland

[Meaghan]

So, we've been contemplating whether or not we should take Ruby and Emerald to an ADGA show in March about 2 hours south of us. Nathan just so happens to have that weekend off by chance, and it's really the only show that's feasible for us to drive to the morning of. I have never shown my own goats before, but I have been at Boer shows in Oregon so I know how they generally work, just not all of the registration and paperwork behind the scenes.

I think the biggest hurdle is that we don't have the ability to take a pen with us, we don't have panels or a trailer. Although there will be some pens available there, they are first come first serve and we cannot spend the night the night prior due to the animals we have at home (no dogs allowed at the show) and not having two vehicles. Not sure what to do about this little predicament, other than hope there is still a pen available when we arrive?

The other thing I was wondering was how to get the Scrapie checked paperwork. Our girls came from a Scrapie free herd, and we haven't had to call the vet out at all yet so I don't know if we have to call him out to get them checked or what? They also need some sort of health certificate within 90 days of the show date.

I've never shown for dairy goats either, and I know that you're supposed to shave them bare basically, but it seems a bit silly to me until summertime. Goats are supposed to have hair! And my babies are soft and fuzzy and I love petting them. When I previously showed Boers, you can shave bare, shave to accentuate good features, or not shave at all, so I don't know if it's just the vast majority of people who shave them or if it's actually required.

If we do end up going and there are other Floridians attending this show, I'd love to meet you all.

 

[Southern by choice]

@Fullhousefarm and @OneFineAcre show quite regularly they would be the best to advise you. I know there are others that show but these were the two I could think of.

Some places have fuzzy shows I think but generally they get shaved.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

We've been to Goats in Gatorland and will be there this year. I'm really familiar with the fairgrounds there too.

Let me answer a few questions now, and I'll get more later.

For the Scrapies you just need a premise ID number. I can post the link later. It's just for tracing and actually pretty silly for registered dairy goats IMO, but easy and free.

You need a health certificate within the last 90 days. We have a vet that does them for $10 if we bring he goats in. He's supportive of 4H kids and really great. Another localish goat bet charges $25, but actually does a "check up" on each goat too. Nice for new owners or of you want to discuss herd management or something. She has dairy goats of her own.

You just have 4 young Nubian goats, right? If you can get a tall x-pen and have two big crates that might work for pens. There is a "barn" area where the pens are very near the show ring and a huge grass
Parking area pretty close where you can keep your goats too. Maybe bring a canopy if it's hot and sunny. We will probably use a trailer and some cattle panels. I'll share if I have extras, but I haven't even thought about who I'm bringing yet. Lol.

Clipping. Yes. But, there are *usually* some unclipped in the under 6 months groups. We don't clip "naked" like some people do- especially since we clip for November, January, and Feb/March shows. If your girls aren't really hairy Id just tidy up their tails,around their feet, and go with that for your first show.

 

[OneFineAcre]

We've been to Goats in Gatorland and will be there this year. I'm really familiar with the fairgrounds there too.

Let me answer a few questions now, and I'll get more later.

For the Scrapies you just need a premise ID number. I can post the link later. It's just for tracing and actually pretty silly for registered dairy goats IMO, but easy and free.

You need a health certificate within the last 90 days. We have a vet that does them for $10 if we bring he goats in. He's supportive of 4H kids and really great. Another localish goat bet charges $25, but actually does a "check up" on each goat too. Nice for new owners or of you want to discuss herd management or something. She has dairy goats of her own.

You just have 4 young Nubian goats, right? If you can get a tall x-pen and have two big crates that might work for pens. There is a "barn" area where the pens are very near the show ring and a huge grass
Parking area pretty close where you can keep your goats too. Maybe bring a canopy if it's hot and sunny. We will probably use a trailer and some cattle panels. I'll share if I have extras, but I haven't even thought about who I'm bringing yet. Lol.

Clipping. Yes. But, there are *usually* some unclipped in the under 6 months groups. We don't clip "naked" like some people do- especially since we clip for November, January, and Feb/March shows. If your girls aren't really hairy Id just tidy up their tails,around their feet, and go with that for your first show.

x2

 

[Meaghan]

We do have four, but we're probably only bringing Emerald and Ruby, and maybe the new buckling as he would still be on three feedings per day. With just two of us, we can't show all four of our does. Thank you for the Xpen suggestion, that sounds like it should work perfectly. The babies don't stray far from me anyways, so I'm not concerned about them "escaping".

I'm not sure how local you are to me, @Fullhousefarm, but the vet we were recommended by our cat/dog clinic is Eric Highers (Hires? Not sure about his last name spelling).

My babies are not Cashmere's, but they aren't short haired either! Trimming the tail I can understand, but what do you mean about the hooves? They don't have particularly long hair there.

Good to know about the Scrapie thing, and I'm looking forward to the link.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Wow, I've never been to a show that didn't have pens for everyone so I can't help you with that part.
When you say you can't show all 4 because there is only two of you, I assume that means they are all in the same age group? If you aren't restricted as to how many you can enter, take them all. You can always get someone to show the other ones for you. I know around here, people are very helpful and we often help other people show their animals in that exact same circumstance. I usually end up showing more of other people animals than I do my own. I mean, when you show your breed of goat and then take care of your animals, there is a lot of time to kill.

Now as far clipping. you can do what you want to do. We used to clip all of ours with a number 10 blade for warm weather shows, but now the majority we use a number 7 which leaves more hair. Some have more course hair and the 10 works better.

For cool weather, we do a cool weather clip. For does in milk we do their neck and face, legs, belly, udder, and shape around the back of their legs around their udder.

These goats had been clipped with a number 7 for a show the first of Sept, but for State Fair at end of Oct, we just did a cool weather trim

 

[Meaghan]

@OneFineAcre: Yea, all of our does are born on January 1st and 2nd, so they would definitely be in the same age bracket (about 3.5 months old in the under 6 month bracket). I didn't know strangers would show other people's does. I mean, at the Boer shows I went to, the owner had several friends and we rotated which does we did but I thought that was just because they new each other for years. Perhaps we will take all four, but I'm not sure Sapphire will win much if we do enter her. Poor girl!

How exactly do you go about asking other showers for assistance?

Our girls probably have about as much hair on their bodies as your does do on their backs. Perhaps an inch long? I'd have to double check our electric shaver, but I think we only have 10 and 40s, because it's meant for cats and dogs, as we use it mostly on our longhaired cat.

 

[OneFineAcre]

How do you ask?
Hey do you mind showing a goat for
Me? Just find a kid ( the human kind ) in white clothes
@Fullhousefarm has a daughter who is a pro and I don"t think they have Nubians
If yours are that young I don't think I would worry about clipping them too much if you don't want to do anything
Personally I would clip them just like mine even though they are Jr's
Use 10 blade on legs, face and neck,
Belly, tail, and back of legs

 

[Meaghan]

I suppose it's not as strange as it seems, the last goat people I was around were very nice!

@Fullhousefarm: No nubians? How can you resist the ears!?

I think I'm just paranoid because they are my first babies, I just don't want them to get cold as we've been having cold snaps back and forth. I think we're out of the worst of it but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be worried about them.

Inner monologue constantly argues between "But they're babies!" and "They can handle it, and you know it."

I wish I could figure out why my internet doesn't work with the site. My cellphone internet doesn't let add the fun faces.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Div...nants/Scrapie-Information/Scrapie-Information


I've never heard of that vet, but I'm 30 miles south of Goats in Gatorland, so far enough from you not to know.

As far as clipping, you can just trim the hairs that hang over their hooves, their tail, and such. If you decide to bring more to show I'm sure my daughter would recruit a friend and help you. We don't have Nubians so most likely she would have time. There are always people willing to help at a goat show. I sometimes even show at the multiple ring shows since sometime with three breeds (nd, LM, and grades) my daughter ends up with two needing to go in different rings at the same time.

(Wrote this earlier and forgot to hit post. Oops!)