# That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?s>



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

So are any of you 4-H's showing in your county fairs? Or parents who have 4-H's showing?

Our fair has started for this week. I found out the goat show is on Saturday, which is great, as my husband is off work so we can all go to watch. We're not familiar with how it works, so it would be a great time to see how the goats are shown, what they check for, what the kids wear, and what kind of goats are being shown in our area.

I had heard there wasn't a lot of kids showing goats in our county, but they have 9 sections for the show.

I am so confused...

I know goats have to have a health certificate from the vet -- anyone know what typically they check for? 
I also know that all goats have to have blood drawn by a state official by a certain date, plus they tag them once they've had their blood drawn.

Now, in the booklet for the fair, on the goat page, it says
'This show is non-sanctioned. In case of a discrepancy, or for rules not adequately covered, the show committee's decision will be held final.'
and
'Youth (4-H, FFA) exhibitors will show with open classes.

Can anyone explain what this means?

Okay, bare with me...

It says Section 1 - Open Showmanship (handlers)
and then it has the 'Class 1' or 'Class 2' so and so with the ages.

Show Order:
Section 2 Percentage Boer Does
Section 3 Full Blooded/Purebred Boer Does
Section 4 Full Blooded/Purebred Boer Bucks
Section 5 All other breeds female
Section 6 All other breeds male
Section 7 Commercial Does - 4-H and FFA by weight
Section 8 Market Goats - 4-H and FFA by weight
Section 9 Dairy Breeding Class (all breeds)

Why does it say 4-H/FFA only in sections 7 & 8? Does it mean adults show goats as well? Sorry I've never really watched the shows at the fairs...I always went around and admired all the beautiful animals 

And what exactly is classified as a Commercial Doe?

Sorry I am really new and trying to figure all this out. If my kids want to get into this, then we'll have to start figuring all of this out. 
My kids are very shy doing things in front of other people, so I want to make sure they can get into this before we'd get too serious. First year they will probably just do Market goats...

Thanks for any help, I'd love to understand more of this before we go on Saturday. Especially so I can explain it to my kids! They are ages 9 and 11. It'll be a while before my youngest gets involved <she's 3>.


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## 4kids (Jul 21, 2009)

*Re: That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?*

My kids (human) show in the 4-H fair. Ours is not as large as yours. We just did out health visit to the vet. He usually just does a quick once over, we do the rabies vaccine and then he asks about the cd &T (which we give). He then fills in all the paperwork. Our goats are not tagged but tattooed. The vet visit is usually very quick.

Our children have to wear white shirt and pants and a brown belt and shoes. The judges change yearly. Different judges tend to pick on certain areas. My children are young so a little grace is given.

Maybe someone will pop in with some other infos. Are fair is a dairy show so we don't have all of the categories you do. We also don't have a buck show. (sadly)


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

*Re: That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?*

open show means anyone can bring their goats regardless if they are in 4H or not but the 4H will show in the open classes as part of their show too. Thats why there is a distinction for the 4H and FFA showing for their market or weight classes thats them only. But they made a note that even though its an open show the show is not sanctioned so any wins would not be official. which is really sad and there probably wont be many people there because of it.

Commercial doe I do believe (not a meat goat person here) that its a percentage goat and not a a pure or full blood boer.

as to the health check -- yours seems a bit involved with the blood test - find out what they are looking for and the tags needed and see if you can do this ahead of time to save yourself the money of doing it at the vet.

I have dairy and when we do a health certificate he checks their tattoos and then checks their eyes, nose and physically to see if they have any sores or anything.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

*Re: That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?*

Thanks so much for the help. So does that mean adults and kids show together, or does that mean kids who are not in 4-H/FFA show against the kids who are in those groups?

That's a shame the wins wouldn't be official, but it would matter if ever you were to get to the state fair, and the state fair would be sanctioned right? I think for the kids, just getting a ribbon and a good placing would be enough to have them pleased. I want them to have fun, and I want them to get into something like this. I think they will learn a lot, and most importantly, learn some responsability, and how to handle their goats.

I read that they have to have the health check certificate, and the blood test/tag. The state does the blood test/tag and it's $4. I thought about calling around to see who I could get a health check from in the future, and what they typically charge, so if and when my kids would want to show in 4-H, then we'd know about how much to expect to pay.

I wonder if the Commercial doe has to have papers, has to be pregnant or be in milk? And even though we are just starting out, and will keep a small herd, some are more for Commerical type breeding since some will be bred to sell for meat either locally or at local auction.

I am really excited to go on Saturday with the kids and see what all goes on.


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

*Re: That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?*

We take our animals down to the fair tomorrow! Your fair seems to be very different from ours....goats are taking over at are fair we have a lot of them and the 4H kids show only against other 4Her's....commercial is percentage. Ours animals only need a health certificate if they are from out of state and then are vet checked for $1 each at the fair yours seems a lot more involved!


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

*Re: That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?*

Our fair is not until the end of July.

My daughter showed goats for 8 years and now she is the Fair Queen and the co leader for the project with me.

I have heard of County fairs that have OPEN classes but to me that is just weird. $H is for kids and that is what a county fair is all about the kids. But hey they are all different I guess.

While you are there talk to the kids. They will be more then happy to talk about their project, just make sure you do it after they are totally done showing.

We had a lady that wanted to know all there was to know about our Fiber goats, and she did not understand why the kids were really not into answering her questions. I finally told her that after the show was done they would answer all the questions that she had. She said she was so sorry, she did not realize the show was going on.

Have fun and enjoy yourself.


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## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

*Re: That time of year, for the fairs to start! <and a few ?*

My nieces fair is not till the end of July so we are still preparing and I hope all goes well. Now to try to answer some of your questions.

I would say open showmanship is just for the kids but it is not done by breeds it is done by the age of the kids. I have never heard of a fair that lets adults show at it.

I would say that for the commercial does since they are shown by weight then they are shown as a market animal not a breeding animal. My fair just started it this year because since I didnt have many does to kid if they all had does we wouldnt be able to sell anything or else we would have to go buy wethers to sell in the fair auction. So I pushed for a market doe class. I kinda got what I wanted but instead of their own class they are just being shown with wethers.

As far as Indiana goes I dont think and county or State Fair shows are sanctioned. It kind of sucks but thats how it is.

We do not need a health certificate any more but before any animals except horses and llamas get on the fair grounds they are checked by a vet to make sure there are no illnesses. Atleast one person from each animal commitee is present incase of a question about rules (ie horn problems, or lumps)

This year we had the choice to use a tag or tattoo but I didn't know until we got there so ours were tattooed.

Sorry I didnt see this before you went to the fair I hope you had fun and learned alot.


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