BrownSheep
Lost in the flock
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- May 23, 2011
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Been there! I've even been told by our judges that ours are the best meat animals in the ring but are not show animals....well duh.SheepGirl said:Sorry in advance, Rolls--I don't mean to hijack your thread!Queen Mum said:You got to wonder, why that would win an award. It seems to me the awards should go to an animal that is destined to live a long time and be healthy. Showing good breeding, long life and health, if that makes any sense.Roll farms said:The extra long 'tube' goats' spines break down, sort of like a sway-backed horse. You want length, but it's very exaggerated in some of these animals.
Our longest does always 'wear out' faster than the stockier ones.
To each their own, though.
I guess it's why I never went in for show goats. It all seems so arbitrary and based on a "fashion" to me.
I do understand that good breeding does make a difference in a good goat though. I do like a "purdy goat".
But to QM, I don't like the show industry (sheep, that is--don't know if cattle/hogs/other stock are any different) very much because show breeders select for what's winning in the ring, and usually those aren't traits that have anything to deal with commercial lamb or wool production. They select for "wedge" shapes (smaller shoulders and wider hips) to 'make it easier to lamb'...well my sheep are square (shoulders same width as hips) and we've never had to pull a lamb, except for a 21 lb ewe lamb out of a mature ewe. But it was her mere size, not her shape that had her stuck. They also select for height & air under the belly. The taller the sheep the more likely it is to win a show. But what does height have anything to deal with commercial lambs? You are just making heavier sheep with no width & length to them...where the meat's at. You don't eat the cannon bones, so no need to breed for longer ones. Show breeders also select for lean sheep, but where's the body capacity to support a ewe who eats most of her diet on grass/pasture/range? A lean ewe won't be able to eat very much--or even have very many lambs because there's no room in there for them! It's not economical to feed a ewe primarily grain year round. And the wether lambs raised for market shows do gain quickly (3/4-1 lb per day), but they are getting only a handful of hay and 3-4 lbs of 'show' chow plus many supplements. How is that the diet of a 'real' market lamb? And we have a carcass contest at our fair where the live lambs are judged on the hoof and then on the rail and the lambs that win 1st in the live show don't ever win first on the rail. What's that saying? Are judges not competent enough to select the lamb on the hoof that will hang the best carcass?
ughh. lolrant over.
Maybe you should try some of the old tricks. Take her on a jog, spicy food, jump on a trampoline. 
