# How do you clip boer does and bucks for show?



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

As everyone knows and can tell, I'm a dairy got person  
BUT my daughter has some Boer goats, 2 bucks and 5 does.
Question of the day, how do you clip breeder does and bucks?

Also...do boer does need to have an udder to show them? Or can they be dried up after weaning? 
Also! Do they need to have their horns intact? If they don't have them do the does get points off? I know bucks have to have them but I've seen pictures of does at shows with and without horns.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

Oh and one more question, at shows is it like dairy goats? 3 championships at different ages and they are permanent champions (ennobled)?


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## ogfabby

Ennobelments are based on points. They have to have 80 points total and then the goat and three offspring have to pass an inspection. ABGA has a web page that outlines all of it.


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## nancy d

Little-Bits-N-Pieces-ADG said:


> As everyone knows and can tell, I'm a dairy got person
> BUT my daughter has some Boer goats, 2 bucks and 5 does.
> Question of the day, how do you clip breeder does and bucks?
> 
> Also...do boer does need to have an udder to show them? Or can they be dried up after weaning?
> Also! Do they need to have their horns intact? If they don't have them do the does get points off? I know bucks have to have them but I've seen pictures of does at shows with and without horns.


Im horrible at clipping so I'll leave that for someone else.
A doe must show signs of kidding by 24 mos. Or at least carrying. Yes they can be dry after weaning.
It is generally preferred to have horns. If another doe is shown with horns & the other has been disbudded & they are of equal conformation the horned doe will place above.


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## Kaneel

All you have to do is trim stray hairs to make them look clean and nice  You _can_ shave, but most don't. I also agree with everything nancy said


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

So if they have natural wave to their coat, do I clip them shorter or leave it? I have a doeling with kinda a bit of wavy hair on the top line.


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## ptgoats45

When I first started showing boers, everyone clipped them. Just the body, not the legs. Now from what I can tell from the pics they kind of prepare them like beef cattle. Just trim around the edges and clean them up to give them a more meaty appearance. I have seen people use that whitening spray on bucks legs to make the hair white.

Horns are definitely preferred.

Maybe if you post a pic of the doeling someone will be able to tell you how they would clip her.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but she has a wavy coat. She's not being shown until she's bigger though, so maybe not this year, but next year. I wanted to learn how to clip boers soon, so I can get it down for the shows later. I'm a hair dresser so I am handy with the clippers, just need to know how to do it 
I know boers not clipped like dairy goats, which I can see in the show pictures. And I'd hate to "butcher" them with a dairy clip 
I can do dairy clips in my sleep!


Never clipped a beef steer either, but for this doe, I would just clip the stray hairs? Like the ones at the chest and rear thighs, and tail?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

Ok, so I've been looking at show pics, and a lot of them look like marshmallows 

But some of them look like they were shaved down and touched up a while later?

What is preferred?


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## ogfabby

The breeding stock are the marshmallows and the market goats are the shaved ones


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## Crossroads Boers

I've been telling quite a few people my thoughts on clipping and where to clip, so here is what I copied off a recent email to one of our buyers. I was talking about the doe they bought from us. 

For sure clip the tail and around her hooves. I would also clip her belly down to 1/4" if possible. That will enhance her length and clean her belly up. Take the guard off for her chest floor and take that down to nothing. That will enhance her width in the front. Then I would put a 1" (or longer even) guard on and go over the corners of her chest floor by her front legs and clean up any hairs that are wild. Here is a picture of a doe we just clipped. You can see her chest floor/front is really "clean" looking. We also clip our does necks, but it is optional depending on the goat. It usually ends up 1/2- 3-4th of an inch. I would say about 1/2" from their chest floor up and then use a 3/4" and go along the cut edge to blend it in. I like to clip their rumps down too, depending on the goat. The general rule is "don't go past the hip bones" when clipping the rump. Past meaning towards her tail. I would say clip 2-3 inches in front and right on top of her hip bones to level her out. (if your goat has a level hip don't worry about it!) Use a long guard at first and make it smaller and smaller until her hip is as level as it is going to get. It's okay if it is obvious you clipped there... I see it all the time, all though blend it in as much as possible. Then for a "pretty" touch we clip their foreheads down. I use the smallest guard we have. It enhances their roman nose and just gives them a cleaner look. Don't go past where the bridge of their roman nose starts. On this doe pictured that would be right about where her white spot ends on her head.


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## Crossroads Boers

I just took another look at your little doeling. She is very pretty.

I wouldn't worry about trying to trim down her wavy coat. I see lots of babies in the show ring with longer hair and it doesn't look bad. We usually just trim down the twisty dorsal stripe a little just enough to blend it in. But for the rest of her body, just spray some show sheen on her and brush her really good with a comb. You could also use a dog slicker brush on her, and that could help straighten out the hair. 

What I would do with her is trim down her under belly all the way up onto her chest floor with a 1/8 inch guard for starters. Then clean up the line from non-clipped belly to clipped belly without the guard. Just make it a clean, straight line. 

Then for her front end, take the guard off and trim her arm pits down to nothing and clean up all of the long hairs right in front of her front legs beside her brisket. Make sure her entire chest floor is down to 1/8 inch. 

Then clip her tail by just taking off all of the long hair. If you can, try to make the end of her tail a little bit pointy as that makes them look more stylish.

To trim her head you use the 1/8 inch guard and go JUST right between the eyes all the up to her horns, then put the 1/4 inch guard on and trim the V that her head/horns make on her forehead. Just make sure to never go past where the roman nose starts. 

Then clean up her hooves/dewclaws. 

I hope this helps and isn't too confusing!


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## bayouboergoats

Follow crossroads advice! Great info given!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

So does the same go for bucks? 
Thank You!


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## Crossroads Boers

Yep, bucks and does are pretty much the same. For breeding stock you want to leave as much hair as possible (especially on the butt/hip). For the bucks that are older, maybe 6 months and up, you want to clip down the neck from their chest up and around the back of the neck to a 1/2-3/4 inch so that they don't look scraggly.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

Gotcha! So is this a clip done 2 weeks prior to a show? Or longer? Less?


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## Crossroads Boers

We like to clip ours 2-3 weeks prior to a show.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

Thank you so much!


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## Crossroads Boers

You're very welcome!


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