Grant
True BYH Addict
When you’re showing him, see if you can train him to bring the front of his rear hooves closer to the back edge of the rump. He’s overstretched a bit.
Thanks for the heads up I’m scared I’m not going to do good my ffa teacher said my goat didn’t look good he looks like poor quality and it made me really sad to hear that but I’m not believing her bs.Just little things
She has me thinking bad thoughts now...Just little things
I have never shown goats, but they certainly look wonderful to me ....IMHO your doing a great job@B&B Happy goats feel free to jump in here. I can judge livestock, but no goat expert by any stretch of the imagination.
He is 9 months old I got him when he was 6 months old.First, if you are used to showing dairy goats and cattle, you need to understand how to show a Boer meat goat. You are stretching that Boer wether out way too far. How you are stacking that wether is more common for market sheep.
Always remember that you are looking for meat on these Boers. They are not milk or dairy animals but strictly meat animals. The dairy goat doe you posted is nice. I would like to see slightly more length but she is a lovely animal. Do not base your judgment of Boers on that doe. She is dairy and Boers are not.
Boer goats carry thickness and meat. The long legged shape of market lambs are not what you are looking for in Boer market wethers. Particularly since show sheep are being bred now to produce a long legged slimline silhouette rather than meat. The good Boer has a long back and loin. When they are standing normally this causes a slight roach in the loin and a dip in the chine. They do not have a flat topline like those cattle pix. Let him walk out normally into a normal stance and check his topline then. A long loin will roach a bit causing a dip in his chine. Don't stretch him out so far. It makes him look narrow.
The next thing to look for is width. He has nice straight leg conformation there - no narrowness between the legs. which is very good. Width is what you want in any meat animal. I would like to see the meat and rear leg thickness carried down much more into the twist on his rear legs. He has length, but needs a bit more width. He also needs a bit more depth in his brisket. The bottom of his chest should reach his elbow. Boers are known for reaching butcher size based only on forage without grain. To do this they need greater depth of rumen. To walk long distances to reach enough forage in south Africa they need lung capacity.
Pictures only go so far. You need to be able to judge your animals by feel too. Meat animals have rounder rib bones, dairy animals have flatter ribs. You should be able to tell with your dairy cattle and dairy goats the difference between their type ribs and angularity and the Boer. Check the length and width of his loin with your hands. The loin should be wide as well as long.
How old is this wether? He is nice looking, in good condition, and you should do well with him, However showing a Boer meat goat require a slightly different showmanmanship technique than market sheep or cattle. You do not want them stretched out since it changes the top line and makes them look narrower and shorter in the loin. Some of his lack of thickness may be due to age.