# First Show was today!



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

They kids had their first show today and did very well! We took 3 girls, and they all did sooooo well! I think the only time a goat hesitated was when my daughters doe went in for showmanship, but after that she was fine, she just needed to adjust, once she set up she was fine from then on  Many of the winners goats were being dragged, laying down, fighting the lead, screaming, etc. And our lil backyard ethiopians were like....what's up with that? LOL

For showmanship my daughter got 3rd and my son got 4th out of 4 kids - But this helped them learn what they were doing wrong. The other 2 were seasoned handlers...
For Percentage 3-6 mo my kids got 2nd and 3rd. My son showed his showmanship doe here for fun, we knew she couldn't outdo the others, but experience gained 
My son's other doe was the only one in her class 6-9 but she did get Grand Reserve.
My son won $15 and my daughter won $10.....that's a lot of $$ to them, so they were really excited!

Biggest thing I could see that we have to do is get weight on the girls. THey've lost a lot of weight, but they were just weaned last month so they are losing a lot of baby fat....
A man at the show whose son won almost all the fullblooded classes told me they creep feed all their show goats. They feed the show chow, but have to mix sweet feed into it sometimes to really get them eating.
So...we're going to creep feed the girls. We were just feeding 2x a day, but this should be much better for them.

The show on Tues will be a lot of big breeders, etc. so I told my kids don't worry if they don't win anything, just have fun, and again, gain experience showing/learn what they have to do, and just have fun. 

Right now.....all I can think about is SLEEP.....I am sooooo exhausted! The girls were sooooo tired too, when we got them back in the back of the SUV they laid down and were snoozing....it was just tooooooooo cute


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## WalnutGroveFarm (Sep 27, 2008)

Congrats to your kids


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

Congratulations! That sounds like a worthy experience for everyone!


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## citylights (Jul 3, 2009)

Congrats -- and we know you took some fabulous pics -- want to to see them


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

Congrats! I love show season and everyone cant start at the top! My first year if market goats a placed 5th out of 6 but it was the experience that counted!


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## GotmygoatMTJ (Apr 25, 2009)

Congrats!!!!

If you creepfeed, make sure that the feed always stays dry and that the slots you make for the kids, aren't big enough for the adults. Also if you haven't already, give them that shot for the Over Eating Disease or what not, boers are pretty bad for it.

Can't wait to see pictures!


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## Dodge 'Em (Jan 13, 2011)

:leap: :clap: :leap: :wahoo: :dance: :wahoo:


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

:stars: :hi5: Way to go !! 
I am glad you all had fun and your kids and their goats did good!!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Congratulations :leap: 

They did GREAT!!! And...got a valuable learning experience too :hug:


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

Congratulations!! Sounds like their naturals!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much! It was a great day! We just got home about 20 minutes ago. We brought the goats home from their show when I posted earlier, then went back to ride the rides...had a blast, and the kids are exhausted! So a great day indeed 

The girls are due for their cd/t booster, but we're going to wait until after their Tues show 'just in case' one were to get an abscess. We had one abscess last month, first one I've given that abscessed, so I don't want to ruin it for them on Tues. The girls are pretty good so far about not eating too much. They eat a little here and there, but the oldest one I do have to be careful with she is the piggy of the bunch, but she has had her cd/t shots.

We keep the 4-H girls stalled together at night so they have their feeder, hay and clean water. During the day, we put the other goats out in the woods, so they don't have access to the barn - therefore we can just keep the girls stall door open and they can go in/out as they please.
If it rains, we put the girls in their stall so the others can have access to the barn - nobody is going to go out when it rains anyway 

Hopefully they do well at the show on Tues so it keeps their confidence up  But they know what they are up against, and know that they need to build their goats up too. 
There were some really nice fullblooded does there, I think some people I've seen on a website before for their farm....The dad was helping the son show, and if I am right they are big players in the state. 
This one kid had a gorgeous buck, he was mostly red with some white on his belly, he was soooo thick...I can only pray that my lil man Spencer will be hefty like that <if we get his mama's paperwork so we can get him registered!>. Otherwise I will be in the market for something affordable but nice like that 

I didn't get a lot of great pics, but I did get some, will try to post some either tonight or tomorrow. I took my shorter lens, and wouldn't you know it they did most of the stuff at the other side of the ring - I was goat sitting my sons oldest doe because she was determined she was going in the ring without a handler so she could stay with the others LOL It was hilarious....while most kids were dragging their goats in...this doe was dragging my son into the ring and ready to go LOL

Next show I'll take my other lens and try to get pics of everyone in the show. This time I concentrated on my kids and tried to see how they do things, etc.


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

Your sons doe sounds like my wether, he just about ran through the ring at his first show. They always say walk your goats pace but I think he was an exception to the rule... I literally had to grab his chin while walking to slow him down, then rub between his horns and this was in showmanship. Once we stopped he was fine though, stood still. He was super nervous, but wouldn't you know he was an angel for the market class.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

My son's doe was totally into showing, it was just too funny. I didn't get many pictures because I was staying near the pen watching, and trying to keep her calm. We only took 3 and 2 went to the ring at the same time. She was standing there calling them, watching them, and the look on her face...why oh why didn't I get a picture of that LOL As soon as it was her turn she was like...COME ON LETS GO ALREADY LOL I still can't get over it because she's never really been that way...silly silly girl!

My kids have a show on Tues they want to go to, but I told them there will probably be 2-3x more people there and not to get too upset if they don't place as well as they did at this one - their goats do need a lot of work compared to the others. My son needs to walk his doe more, and we need to build them up. My daughters doe has really lost some 'covering' if that makes sense. She seems okay weight wise, but she's lost her baby fat and could really use some weight. So we're figuring out what we need to do, and hopefully they can get them looking nice by the time the county specific show comes around July 26th. 

BTW, my clipping job stunk  We clipped them 2 weeks before the show, but they looked really wild, so we had to clip them again a day or two before the show. I am hoping I won't have to do any more body clipping and just touch them up around the head and feet but what are the chances they'd need another body clip before the shows next month? I sure hope they give me a break, hehe.....


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## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

I just shaved one of my does and I still have a month till she get showed and I am not clipping her again. I think you will be fine not clipping them again because I was told you want does to have a little longer hair. Its wethers that you want to have short hair.
I am so glad the kids had fun and it sounds like everything went well. I hope they have as much fun on Tuesday even if they don't do as well.
I am having the same problem with my red doe loosing condition now that she is weaned and it is hot out. I just don't know what to do to help her gain weight.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks Roger! I hope your able to get the red doe to gain weight, totally understand. We are basically keeping feed in the feeder for them all day long so they can come and eat whenever they want. Are you creep feeding her? The breeder I talked to at the show said that's how they got weight on and kept weight on. 
I think if they don't look sunken in so much on Tues they will do okay... I think we may drench them with water before we leave, because they had no interest in water when we were there. They were eating grain/hay a bit, but I feel they really needed the water.

The red doe has terrible dry skin  So we'll have to brush her out real good tomorrow. She's got sensitive skin to the shampoo, and nothing has helped. I put some corn huskers lotion on her, but think it was holding heat and made her temp go sky high the other day when it was really warm out and she was out in the sun. So I had to wash it out, so glad it didn't look that bad yesterday! Not sure if he'll show her on Tues, but she'll go with us anyway  He uses her for showmanship, but practiced with her in breed class yesterday. She doesn't stand up to the others because she has that dairy influence and is a very thin built doe.


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