# Boer people, help me if you can!



## nutmegfarm (Dec 23, 2009)

I have a TON of new kids in my 4-H club, but they are all doing Boer goats, and I have NO CLUE!!! Our county does not have a strictly meat goat club, and for the past 8 years its always been dairy goats. I don't have Boer, and need some help. Showing, caring, etc. I would prefer personal accounts and opinions on raising meat market goats, showing them, anything will be helpful to me!! I'm so STRESSED out about this, but I would never turn a kid away, thats just mean!! So all you Boer people...HELP! Some of my questions are what percent grain do you start your market goats out on? When do you wean Boer goats? What are some good weights for Boer around 3 months? Anything is appreciated, thanks


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

Meagan-
Boer's are a piece of cake compared to your dairies when it comes to showing. You don't have to shave them unless it is a weather and even then you don't shave them all the way down. On the does you just trim a little as well to show off there good qualities. Does can have horns but weathers cannot. Feed them a special feed specifically for meat goats if available (a higher % is good) and weathers get a little hay does get free choice. They can be stubborn and are strong so you do have to work with them. Every goat grows at its own rate but you want them to grow at a steady rate not in spurts. Hope that helps...did I miss anything?


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

When we had boers we fed them a basic diet of oats(with a little barley and BOSS during kidding and when the does were raising kids) and good quality grass hay, as well as good free choice minerals. Our boers were always slick and well muscled on this diet, and they also had free range access to a pasture and a forest full of downed trees. We usually let the mothers wean their kids, that way they grew faster, and we handled the kids from birth.


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## nutmegfarm (Dec 23, 2009)

Thanks that does help, I'm just so lost Can someone explain the percentage, fullblood difference for me that would help too!


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

Fullblood means is the equivalent of a dairy goat's purebred status, and percentages cannot be bred up to FB status. For percentages, 50% is when a FB registered buck is bred to an unregistered doe, the resultant kids are 50%; and as the percentages are registered and bred to FB bucks with each generation their blood gets 'purer', eventually they will reach the American Purebred status, but you cannot get FBs from american purebreds


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

Will boers FB is 100% Purebred is 97% and up and percentage is below that....does that help? When I started with boers I felt the same way


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## Shelly Borg (Nov 2, 2009)

If you Google 4H meat goat project you can get a lot of info. Even hand outs for your kids. (Human ones)  
Good luck! We are doing a meat goat breeding and market wether this year also


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

If I repeat what anyone else has said its cause I only read the question :greengrin: 
Our Boers are fed a 17% specifically for meat goats. They dont get weaned till 3mos.
They should weigh in at least 50-60lbs at weaning.
Please please PLEASE advise your students to NOT change the feed!!
We had a FFA member decide to buy a different feed. The goat lost a lb the week before weigh in & didnt qualify because of that one lb.
OK going back to read what everyone else has said.

ETA
In our area the goat has to be at least 50% Boer. One of ours was an exception in that he was unusually big for a 50%.
Ideally the higher the % the more width & depth & muscle you will see on them.
Can you get your hands on the kids? Feel the shoulders & loin for muscle; you want firm. Hope this helps.


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## nutmegfarm (Dec 23, 2009)

Yes I know about feed switching, it applies to dairy as well (well any animal), I really needed to know about the feed % so thank you. And thank you to all I'll come to you guys for questions. Thanks for helping a struggling dairy gal


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## Bellafire Farm (Jan 5, 2010)

Hello there,

We also have a large number of first year meat goat kids. Our situation may be a little different though (???), as our kids are only showing the market animals and not doing actual Boer goat breed classes (unless it's just for fun of course).

Our rules are very loose, & only suggest a market goat be _about_ 90-100 lbs. at final weigh in, they must NOT have any horns (no matter what sex they are).

Our 4-H group has contacted (and visited) a number of the top Boer market goat farms in the northwest/west coast area here. Oddly enough, nearly all have adamently stated "FREE CHOICE" top quality Purina feed with minimal alfalfa hay. The feed suggested is called X'Clamation by Purina and is a *complete* feed that is medicated w/cocci treatment. I believe it's about a 17% protein mix?? And about 20% fiber mix? They also suggested top dressing some BOSS. They said to "work" the animal, much as we did with the market lambs, by walking them up hills everyday, maybe a short little run but nothing long distance. Using the hills keeps the hindquarters nice & muscled.

As for showing, we were taught to set them up very similar to a dairy goat. Fairly squared up, but with the back legs very slightly further apart (not as much as the diary goats) than the front. Careful to keep the front feet squared under the front of the goat to encourage good shoulder form (that's what they showed us). Also in our area the goats are shaved down (not to the skin though) about 3 weeks before the show. They shave the entire goat down EXCEPT for the tail and below the "knee". So you would shave down the legs to the middle/knee joint and then very slightly fade over the middle joint so the goat still has normal hair on it's lower leg area. Hopefully this makes sense? (I unfortunately stole some pics of champions on the internet & cropped them so you can see how they are clipped - sorry to offend anyone by using their pics)

The breeders and showers here suggested those goat blankets to keep the animals clean after their clipping job & during the show. The also suggested washing the goat with a shampoo that is the purple color to help eliminate stains. And using Cowboy Magic for touch-ups. Another tip was to use a very light spray of showsheen to help repel dirt during the show & to keep the animals skin/coat in top shape.

As a halter horse person at heart, I also swear by a product called ShowBloom (her's the link http://www.emmert.com/showbloom/showbloom.shtml ), it's absolutely amazing stuff, but it's quite expensive to have shipped. Right now I am topdressing with Sea Kelp and am getting about the same coat/skin condition on my goats as I got with the ShowBloom... Only difference is that ShowBloom also does wonders for the actual condition and muscling of the show animals. At this particular moment, I just can't afford it though, it's the shipping that kills me (cost me more to ship it than it does for the bag itself!!). If you can get it though, try it, even for the dairy goats. Last year we used a product from Purina called High Octane...they have a few different varieties (can't remember which one we used). We were showing market lambs but it really seemed to work well for muscling & conditioning. Plus we could get it fairly cheap and right here in our local store.

Here are some great links I've found so far:
http://premier-services.org/library/CLUBGOATGUIDE.htm
http://www.showgoats.net/Goat_Show_Wethers.html
http://www.texasshowgoatconnection.com/ ... xperts.php

Obviously none of this is set in stone - everything has to be adjusted to your own situation of course, I'm just throwing out some information that we've been taught by top breeders in our area. I hope that some of it will help you out.

Have a great day, and we wish you wonderful luck with your new market goat adventure!

Always my best wishes,


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## critter sitter (Mar 6, 2010)

Just came across this post. We raise boer and dairy goats and I was the 4-H goat leader for our group. Honestly, our kids did the breeding stock so that is what I am more experienced with. 

Who ever said they were less work than dairy, is exactly right. We've shown both and fitting a boer is wayyyyy less work. If you are show breeding stock you mainy just wash, dry and clip. Clipping consists mainly of blunting tail, trimming along hoof line (just like dairy) and then stand back and look at their outline and clip them so lines look sharp and clean. Stray hair etc. Some people clip according to their strengths and weaknesses. (if they have a slight dip in their back, they leave the hair a little longer there to compensate). It may help with the initial first glance, but judges are going to get their hands on their back, loin, rump, etc. and it won't fool them. It's personal preference. 

Just make sure if they are breeding stock, do not shave entire body. :shocked: 

As far as feed, it's not that different than dairy. Like I said we have dairy and boer and we feed the same feed. If they were showing we would give them a little extra (calf manna, BOSS, etc. ) we tried different things with different results. Someone mentioned the ShowBloom, I have not used it personlly but I have heard good things about it too. 

Oh, and one thing that is different about Boers is they usually (here at least) have buck classes as well. Pretty much the same rules. Of course never shave off their beard. :laugh: Saw someone do this once. Ohhh, it wasn't pretty.

Good luck and have fun.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Oh you can also show does in the wether classes but if she's in a meat class she cant be shown in the doe class.


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