# Setting Your Dairy Goat Up For Critiquing



## COgoatLover25 (Dec 23, 2013)

For those who are not sure how to set their goats up properly and want to learn, I thought it be fun & educational to start this thread. Knowing how to set your goat up is nearly essential for both judging and showing them. I will be posting a few more examples later on when I have the time but today Ava, a senior doe will be our example for a side view, we'll get to the front & back views later on.

How The Goat Is Setup:
In this picture, Ava managed to set herself up pretty much near perfect without any assistance. She's standing nice and square. With her fronts legs being directly under her shoulder and her hocks are almost directly underneath her pin bones. Her head is pulled up and she is looking directly forward. This doe has a naturally straight top line so it's not necessary to help her look her best by doing what we call "spine tickling". Spine tickling is where you slide your fingers down the spine, encouraging the does top line to look straighter.

How The Goat Is Presented:
In this picture, Ava is presented dry ( no longer in milk ). She has been given a show clip, ( removing the extra hair from the goat prevents us from making misjudgments on their conformation.) and is clean and her coat is healthy and free from mud or dirt.

Background & Picture Quality:
Clearly, the background could be better, it would also be much better if she was standing on even, cleared ground or concrete so that we could more affectively judge her on the conformation on her feet & legs. Picture angle is pretty good but could've been taken more "straight on". Picture quality is good, it's a nice clean cut picture without any blurs or shadows.

That's all I can think of right now, please feel free to ask any questions or make suggestions on how it could be explained clearer. I'll try to do my best in replying to questions but this thread is for everyone so if you know the answer to someone's question, answer it! If anyone else wants to post examples of correctly set up senior does, junior does, or bucks please do! 
Thanks for taking the time to read opcorn:


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## CrazyDogLady (Aug 9, 2014)

Thanks!!


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## Cedar Point Kikos (Oct 16, 2013)

Good idea!

Another tip is to post front, top and back pictures using the same criteria as above


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## Dairy_goat (Apr 11, 2015)

What about setting up juniors? Do you set them up a little bit different? SHould the hocks line up with the pin bone or slightly behind for juniors? Thanks!


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## billiejw89 (May 7, 2014)

Thank you!


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## COgoatLover25 (Dec 23, 2013)

Dairy_goat said:


> What about setting up juniors? Do you set them up a little bit different? SHould the hocks line up with the pin bone or slightly behind for juniors? Thanks!


Setting up juniors and seniors is generally the same. I will say though that you will run into young does that look a lil better with their hocks being just a tad behind the pin bones. As a rule of thumb though, the goal is to have the hocks directly beneath the pinbones. I'll get around to juniors about the middle of April when I can get everyone clipped


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Good post but keep in mind, doing your own critiquing is much different then setting up for a judge in a show ring. Setting up in the show ring you are able to hide faults. Its the faults in your goat you want to be able to see so you can run a breeding program to breed the faults out. Granted no goat is going to be perfect but you dont want to fool yourself into thinking you have a better goat then what you really have. Ideally you want your goat to look close to show stance naturally. Another important part of showing, and were a lot of the judges pick their winners is when a goat is on the move. Its impossible to hide anything when they are walking. So have someone walk your goat and judge for yourself.


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## COgoatLover25 (Dec 23, 2013)

Great post TDG-Farms, I wanted to mention that also. Thanks so much for posting that


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Very pretty doe in the picture. And like I was saying, you want a doe looking set up when just standing there. Aside from putting the feet in the proper spot, which i am assuming you had to do, she is standing free from handler contact. Meaning this is a very natural stance for her.


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