# Seriously Considering Showing Boer



## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

For funsies, of course, since I don't farm animals myself right now. However, I do enjoy a little competition and the chance to frolic with those in the same interests, so I'm gonna wiggle myself into position, even if the goat I plan on using ain't all that. (It's a learning experience, so who cares?!)

I'm sure I can find a lot of showing information in books and articles online, especially the stuff I'll need to learn for conformation (will also be lurking the conformation board here), but what we don't know are the clipping method and if I can even show, since I am an adult entering. All she knows about is showing with dairy, which is actually what her daughter does (and we're sure she'll help too). She did mention that I'll have too keep horns on Sugar, which doesn't seem like a major issue since he isn't as clingy as Belle. Will just have to be wise of the sharp end of them.

SO I guess what I'm asking is, can y'all point me the right direction?
:whatgoat:


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

This confused me deeply. So your saying you don't have goats but you want to show them? You are asking for clipping etc. Information correct? For boar goats not dairy? What kind of show do you want to enter? Open boar shows(only option as an adult)?


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

I don't have a farm of goats I guess I should have said, but I own Miss Belle and whether I actually end up with ownership of Sugar or not, I'll be showing him (but not Belle). And yes, correct, for Boer not dairy. I just wanna enter a regular ol livestock halter show. If open shows are all that's available, that's important info for me.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Alright. Thanks for that info. How old is Miss Belle? How old are you. This can make some differences in classes you two could enter. I do not show meat, but I have been showing dairy goats for 9 years. Halter is horses, but you could enter showmanship classes which is where you are judged and not so much the goat(like your knowledge, ability to stack the doe up, and such) or breed classes. It really depends on your location and shows in your area. 
Clipping wise what I have seen on the boars at my county and state fairs and I believe this is the correct way to clip them is they clip every thing, but the knees/hocks and below. I would look up "clipping a boar goat for show" and you should get some good answers.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Okay I just realised that you are going to show Sugar not Miss belle correct?


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Thank you! And correct, Sugar not Miss Belle. Sugar is 5 weeks old, I am 22. I'll be getting Sugar castrated. Haha, halter was the only word I could think of. I would prefer breed classes. I tried finding information on the ABGA site, but I didn't find what I was looking for.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

ABGA, ADGA, AGS they don't have the basic show information that a beginner wants. Believe me I've tried to find it. I will try to find a few websites that ik of that would be helpful and link them.
Okay 22 would be adult classes so that is correct. Breed classes is fine. If you've shown horses(assuming) then you know that they are looking for conformation, breed characteristics, and such in the horse in the halter classes. It is the same in goat breed classes.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Look up "market goat showmanship from start to finish" from K state. Its got a lot of great showing info on boars. My phone isn't wanted to link websites at the moment. It should be in PDF form.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

https://www.motesclearcreekfarms.com/asp/articles/showmanship.asp

This has some great ideas. These websites are all talking about showmanship, but you prepare the animal pretty much the same way for a breed class. You just don't have to have such an area of knowledge.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

> Okay 22 would be adult classes so that is correct. Breed classes is fine. If you've shown horses(assuming) then you know that they are looking for conformation, breed characteristics, and such in the horse in the halter classes. It is the same in goat breed classes.


I haven't shown halter, but I do know what they tend to look for since I have over half my life in horses. I figured it's like about any other show animal - in the end, you want them nice and square. The rest is depending on the purpose of the breed.



> Look up "market goat showmanship from start to finish" from K state. Its got a lot of great showing info on boars. My phone isn't wanted to link websites at the moment. It should be in PDF form. [...] This has some great ideas. These websites are all talking about showmanship, but you prepare the animal pretty much the same way for a breed class. You just don't have to have such an area of knowledge.


Thanks so much for helping. I'll spend my afternoon looking through this stuff. I'm pretty excited.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Pretty much. Lol. And glad I could help. Any questions feel free to ask.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

So do open shows in some states have 'halter' classes for adults who show boer wethers? I am confused now lol. But here in our state, if you want to show as an adult you can only show in breeding classes - wethers & commercial does are for youth only.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

It more depends on the show then the state. In Ohio where I am just above you some shows have dairy wether classes and some don't. As for boars I would assume they would, but as I said before I do show dairy, not meat.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

I sure hope there's showing for wethers, I really don't want to keep a buck around..


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## 4hgirl (Mar 23, 2015)

I haven't shown at ABGA shows, but I have shown Boers in 4-H. In 4-H/FFA, wethers are shown in a market wether class and then sold for meat afterwards. I have no idea if ABGA or any of the breed associations have wether classes. I do know that a lot of areas have smaller jackpot shows, especially if you're in an area where meat goats are big. You should be able to enter wethers in that. Are your goats registered with any organizations? that would affect where you an show as well.

As for clipping, wethers are slick shorn everywhere below the head and above the knees/hocks. You then blend the shorter hair into the longer hair on the neck and knees/hocks. This is so the judge can see the muscle on the animal. Does aren't shaved down quite as far because the judge isn't looking at how much meat they carry. At the shows I've been to, there have been showmanship classes and then quality which mainly consists of breeding does and then market wethers. I don't know if ABGA type shows would have more classes like dairy goat show such as best udder or whatever. I hope that helped a little.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

4hgirl said:


> I haven't shown at ABGA shows, but I have shown Boers in 4-H. In 4-H/FFA, wethers are shown in a market wether class and then sold for meat afterwards. I have no idea if ABGA or any of the breed associations have wether classes. I do know that a lot of areas have smaller jackpot shows, especially if you're in an area where meat goats are big. You should be able to enter wethers in that. Are your goats registered with any organizations? that would affect where you an show as well.
> 
> As for clipping, wethers are slick shorn everywhere below the head and above the knees/hocks. You then blend the shorter hair into the longer hair on the neck and knees/hocks. This is so the judge can see the muscle on the animal. Does aren't shaved down quite as far because the judge isn't looking at how much meat they carry. At the shows I've been to, there have been showmanship classes and then quality which mainly consists of breeding does and then market wethers. I don't know if ABGA type shows would have more classes like dairy goat show such as best udder or whatever. I hope that helped a little.


Thank you very much for your help! I do not know if the herd is registered or not, but I'm hoping to find out soon. If they are, he will be too. But I really doubt it. The herd sire MIGHT be. Seriously, thank you for this reply. As brief is it is, I'm sure reading it off to Goat Lady will help us both figure out what to do as far as Sugar goes.


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## 4hgirl (Mar 23, 2015)

If the herd sire is registered, you might be able to register them as recorded grade. That means that in a few generations, if you keep breeding them back to registered goats, their offspring could be fully registered. I don't remember all of the specific details, but I may have to do that with my new doeling because I'm not sure if her mom has papers.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Well I'll keep my fingers crossed then!


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Just like they said your options do open up with ABGA shows(I had assumed they were unregistered). And I had totally forgotten about jackpot shows. My own fair even has one so I would definitely look into that for ur county and the surrounding ones.


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## loggyacreslivestock (Mar 5, 2013)

To show in ABGA, bucks must NOT be wethered, must be 100% and registered. To my knowledge, there aren't any open, adult shows for wether Boers. Maybe in your state you may find some. If you look on abga website under education, then go to breed standards, it gives you the rules.
As for clipping, once you have determined that you can indeed show, there are clipping diagrams available online.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Okay, and what about does? Can they be dehorned or will that fault me?


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## 4hgirl (Mar 23, 2015)

It depends on where you're showing. Some shows require horns, some require does to be dehorned and some don't care.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

I'm in Oklahoma lol. It's kinda hard to find anything event-wise.


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## loggyacreslivestock (Mar 5, 2013)

In ABGA, neither bucks nor does can be faulted in the ring for being disbudded, but they are not eligible for inspection for ennoblement. This means it is harder to get them ennobled later. The does do have to be registered. They can be a percentage which means one parent is registered 100% and the other can be non registered or another percentage. Basically this means the sire needs to be registered.


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

loggyacreslivestock said:


> In ABGA, neither bucks nor does can be faulted in the ring for being disbudded, but they are not eligible for inspection for ennoblement. This means it is harder to get them ennobled later. The does do have to be registered. They can be a percentage which means one parent is registered 100% and the other can be non registered or another percentage. Basically this means the sire needs to be registered.


Well, I suppose making ennoblement isn't am issue for me, but that is good to know. Thank you very much!


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