# Why shave a goat for show?



## kbrenton92

I was just at the county fair where just about everyone shows their goats. And I noticed that out of probably 400 goats almost every single one of them were shaved. So why shave your show goat? They were all dairy breeds so I didn't see any meat goats. I assume its a show standard to have them like that but why is it necessary?


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## Talron

They're shaved so the fur doesn't hide anything.
Shows are about conformation and when you get rid of the hair you can tell how a goat is built a lot better and easier.


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## Cactus_Acres

I know that just clipping my goats makes it easier to take pictures of them for sale. Clipping a goat that is on the posty legged side can show more of the angles they do have, and adds to making them looks more graceful. 

I clipped my buckling that is for sale, and he looks much sleeker. He was born with thick, very soft, and curling/wavy hair. Curling hair on a Nubian buckling is not so masculine, IMO. He lightened up quite a bit too, to a creamy color once clipped. I am attaching a "before" photo of the boy to this, and will post another "after" photo to another posting. iPad won't let me attach two to a post.

I clipped everyone here about three weeks ago, as it is starting to warm up. It made for much more comfortable goats too.


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## Cactus_Acres

Here is his "after" photo. You can see more of how he is built instead of all that wavy hair (his brother has flatter, sleeker hair than him, though Sunny is softer).


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## LamanchaAcres

Just as the others said it does make a big difference in the appearance of the animal. I posted a before and after of one of my bucks. Its pretty much necessary for him because of the amount of hair. ( yes he is pink, due to the lack of shade when the pic was taken. Hes now in a new pen) 














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## ndwarf

HAHAHAHA:slapfloor: That is not very masculine!!


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## kbrenton92

Wow what a difference! Kinda funny the pink boy lol but does were clipped too. So is it something you HAVE to do to show? Or it just looks better to the judge?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

Clipping is pretty much necessary for any dairy show except for the fuzzy goat shows (shows late in the year when they normally have grown their hair out for the cold months.)


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## DMSMBoers

I wished it was this way for the ABGA shows. Sometimes I wonder if its a hair clipping contest!!


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## penguinacres

There are fuzzy shows and non fuzzy shows. Shaved does will almost always place over non shaved does due to the fact that the judge can appreciate the features better. Love the pink buck BTW!


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## canyontrailgoats

Shaved goats look cleaner and more angular..It's certainly easier to groom a hairless goat!


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## Dani-1995

DMSMBoers said:


> I wished it was this way for the ABGA shows. Sometimes I wonder if its a hair clipping contest!!


Bottom line is that we need judges that know to look past hair and fat and how to do so. They need to know what substance of bone, boldness of top, center rib, depth and correct structure look like under that weight and hair.

Personally I like the fitting and showmanship aspect. I just wish more judges as well as the ABGA would understand the importance of furthering education in judging. We need more criteria and structure to our judging program. I'd love to be a judge one day and honestly would like to be challenged to continue education, have a set number of shows to judge per 2 years to keep certification ext... not sure if any of that is in place but never heard of it before.


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## caprine crazy

I've thought about being a judge too, Dani! It would be a great summer job. You could go around to all the county fairs or sanctioned fairs in the area.


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## HoosierShadow

I love the shaved look of the dairy goats, they look awesome  

I wish Boer's weren't so complicated! My kids have only shown in county fairs, I have to do the breeding goat clipping/fitting, and I am not that great at it lol I think the only thing I don't like about Boer's is when people get so finicky about doing this, and that, using this and that on their animals. It's a bit of a turnoff with the adhesive's, and tricks to make an animal look like something it really isn't underneath.
My kids have shown for a few years and just now got a dryer to use! They love having the dryer, but are not into the adhesive's, etc. The only thing they want to do is find a good way to blow dry/good type of shine/conditioner to use in the hair to make it look nice when it's blow dried, and tricks to help with stains lol Let's face it, yellow stains on a buck need more help than a whitening shampoo!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

In some ways, I wish they did clip Boers like the dairy breeds are clipped. A lot of the ways you can groom them is like false advertising.
I think shows would go a lot faster and better if they were clipped like the dairy goats, because they wouldn't have to come up and feel each goat to make sure there wasn't any clipping tricks, and that what they see is actually real. 
While to do look nice they ways they get clipped, it does seem like it's a contest to see who clipped better. 

If the judge could just see the goat for what it really is, right off the bat, without having to get past all the hair and the clip job, I think that would be much better. 
You can clip a hip down and blend it out for a "level top", you can leave the hair longer in the chin to fill it in, you can fluff and blow out a rear end that isn't there, you can block and blow out the legs to make them look to have more substance, you can shave a face more than necessary to get more of a roman face than they have, you can leave hair long at the girth if they have terrible blending to the barrel, just so many tricks of the trade can be really deceiving, if people were to just shave them down, what you see is what you get. 
You can't hide a goat's flaws under hair that isn't there.

While they do look quite nice and elegant with their master clips, it isn't necessary and it conceals a lot of flaws.


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## loggyacreslivestock

HoosierShadow said:


> I love the shaved look of the dairy goats, they look awesome
> 
> I wish Boer's weren't so complicated! My kids have only shown in county fairs, I have to do the breeding goat clipping/fitting, and I am not that great at it lol I think the only thing I don't like about Boer's is when people get so finicky about doing this, and that, using this and that on their animals. It's a bit of a turnoff with the adhesive's, and tricks to make an animal look like something it really isn't underneath.
> My kids have shown for a few years and just now got a dryer to use! They love having the dryer, but are not into the adhesive's, etc. The only thing they want to do is find a good way to blow dry/good type of shine/conditioner to use in the hair to make it look nice when it's blow dried, and tricks to help with stains lol Let's face it, yellow stains on a buck need more help than a whitening shampoo!


I just recently showed in an ABGA show and only used pink oil after drying. It really made the hair shine, repelled dirt and helped the hair stand up better. After blow drying completely, I sprayed the pink oil on lightly, combed, and then dried in the direction I wanted the hair to go. Then straight into the ring. I got lots of compliments on my clip job


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## BrokenArrowRanch

I was taught by a dairy lady in 4H that the reason dairy goats are clipped is to reduce the amount of hair and debris that could get into the milk. I keep my girls tummy and udders clipped and it helps with hair in milk. 


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## Dani-1995

caprine crazy said:


> I've thought about being a judge too, Dani! It would be a great summer job. You could go around to all the county fairs or sanctioned fairs in the area.


I just like judging! I've done 4H contests for the last 6 years and just finished my very last state contest. I'm hoping to Co - coach the team this year.

I'm going to keep up with my ABGA stuff and hopefully go to nationals and such before I go to judging school. But it will happen one day!


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## Damfino

I don't like the way goats look at shows. It's too short and their tails look weird. I'm tossing around the idea of clipping my goats with a 1/2" clipper guard so they look sleek and well-groomed without looking shaved. I don't like it when you can see skin. To me it seems slightly cruel to clip short because hair protects our goats from biting insects, sunburn, rain, and cold. But I understand why judges don't want to see a bunch of wooly mammoths parading around the ring either. I live in the mountains and our state fair is in September, which is too late in the year to do a close shave in my opinion. I did it last year and I'd rather not do it again. To me the 1/2" clip looks classy instead of bald, and the goat's true color remains intact. A super-short clip sometimes changes it. 

I also left one doe's beard intact for showing last year and will probably do it again. She has a very feminine head and neck and her long, fine beard seems to accentuate this in my opinion. My other doe had a scraggly beard so I got rid of it. I look at it this way: the judge only has to look at my goats for a few minutes. I have to look at them for the rest of the year. If I have to clip them in such a way that it's painful for me to look at, I won't do it. I may also leave tail hair intact this year and just trim the edges and top to look neat. I hate the "poodle" look and I want their sensitive girly parts protected from sun and flies.


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## TWBMom

I don't like seeing the pink skin either. My daughters (I put girls but that sounded like your does and then I wanted to type kids and it was funny....) typically shave 3-5 days prior to show so they have some growth. You get used to it. ;-). It means no one can play tricks with hair to cover imperfections. It's sad what people try to do to win. 

I actually use a small pair of Andi's clippers and those don't go as close and we can even clip 2 days out and not have the bright pink skin. 


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## erikrarn

Dani-1995 said:


> I just like judging! I've done 4H contests for the last 6 years and just finished my very last state contest. I'm hoping to Co - coach the team this year.
> 
> I'm going to keep up with my ABGA stuff and hopefully go to nationals and such before I go to judging school. But it will happen one day!


Dani- I want to get involved in judging teams but I'm not sure if my 4-H program has this. Are there any outside organizations you know of that do this?


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## Dani-1995

erikrarn said:


> Dani- I want to get involved in judging teams but I'm not sure if my 4-H program has this. Are there any outside organizations you know of that do this?


It would depend on your area. FFA does and anyone with extensive knowledge of livestock evaluation can teach you to judge, as can some research, but I'm not sure about contests or outside teams aside from 4H or FFA. I'd do a Google search for your area and see. Even if your county doesn't have it then you may be able to join a neighboring county.


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## bbpygmy

For pygmies you don't shave, but rather trim up around the desired area. To me I think it would be easier to shave them, but I think that would look funny on a Pygmy  here's one of my trimmed does


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## Damfino

I forgot all about this thread... 

Follow-up on my State Fair clipping experiment. I did use the 1/2" clipper guard so as to neaten up my goats without removing all their hair. I also left their tails intact except for a little trimming around the edges and removing the scruffy hairs on top. The udders got the usual close shave. 

I really liked the result. However, I can't recommend this style since some judges may frown, and I'm pretty sure you'd get docked in Showmanship since animal grooming is part of the overall score if I'm not mistaken. However, in MY (totally worthless) opinion, the girls looked great with this hairdo--much better than when I shaved them last year. Not that it counts in the show ring, but mine were the only goats at the show whose colors were brilliant and bold. Shaved goats lose their depth of color since the skin shows through the short hair, and to me they don't look as sleek since the short hairs bristle out instead of falling neatly in place. 

Leaving their hair largely intact turned out to be a great idea for practical reasons. We had a blizzard two weeks after the show and the temperature dropped insanely low for mid-September. I'd have felt terrible if my girls were bald. Blankets are never as good as a natural hair coat.


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