# What to expect, first show



## loveallgoats (Jan 29, 2009)

So over memorial day weekend I will be taking a few goats to my first show. I am so excited but really nervous! I have never shown a goat before, though a few of my girls had been shown by their previous owner. What should I expect?Any suggestions or tips for me? Any info will be greatly apprecitated. The kids and I are practiceing walking the goats. Oh, I have a first freshner doe(well soon anyway) that if her udder comes in good enough I am thinking of taking too. How do I deal with that when she still had babies on her? Pull them and bottle feed or take then away for a feeding? thanks


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

for juniors its easy -- clip and go. you cant lead with a leash so make sure you walk with them with their collar. At most shows people use the choke chain collars you use for dogs but you dont use them in the choke chain manor it just gives a more sleek refined look to your goat because the chain is thinner then most collars. You will want to have their normal collars until you get to the show ring and then swap out. 

Make sure they are clean as possible and their hooves are done -- wipe their ears with baby wipes so their tattoos can be easily read. 

make sure you have a binder with all the goats papers in it -- when you sign in with the secretary you will need to show each goats certificate = best to have them in the order you placed them on your registration sheet for the show so its easy to check in. 

Keep this binder handy because you will need it if you win and they need to check tattoos.

For a milker you will want to separate the kids the night before -- the kids shouldnt nurse till after the last Sr Doe show is over so as to not miss any classes (Best udder, champion line up etc). Bottle feeding the kids is only necessary if they are younger then 7-8 weeks old. At that age they can do without milk for a longer period of time without starving. 

Once she bags up shave her uddder with a #40 blade so that her udder is nice and clean of hair. Same body clip as a junior and wiping the ears, timming feet etc.

You will want a separate pen for your kids so they dont nurse off mom while wating to show her. 

I like the exersize pens made for dogs -- easy to put up and easy to take down. everyone uses them around here for our "trailer" shows (no pens on premisis).


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## farmergal (Jun 19, 2009)

I too have been wondering about showing, thanks loveallgoats for starting this thread and Stacey for such a helpful answer. good tip about the binder, I hadn't thought of that. yipes this reminds me I need to tattoo all of my goats soon... I am not looking forward to doing that. :sigh: 

so for shows you just milk out the doe the night before, and then let her fill until she's done with the show? what if the show is in the afternoon?

also, for the choke chain, how do you use it without making it choke the goat? or are there special goat ones that you buy? 

and finally, dumb question I know... but do you really need to practice a lot with the goat beforehand? I know 4H/FFA kids spend hours and hours practicing with their animals, but I just don't have that kind of time...


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Depending on how much the doe is milking will determin when you let her start filling up from. MOst of the time 12+ hours of milk is good for show fill. If you milk her out in the morning she wont have enough milk for the show. if you doe is a high producer then milk her out later the night before for a following afternoon show. Most of the tiem if my does look over full I will squirt some out while standing ringside just to make sure they arent over bagged. But sometimes there isnt enough time for that so work ahead of time to see how much she fills up.

As to the choke chain = I hold both "rings" in my hand so that it doesnt slide and do the "choke" action. some use a carabiner to link the two ends and then they hold the carabiner (sp?) 


Some goats are bad about practicing and then angels in the show ring -- others need practice time. Make sure they are use to you handling them and you are able to walk them at least some what with their collar up under their chin. If not then you will end up dragging them around the show ring (wont do well that way). 

Junior does are the worse -- the younger classes are jokingly called "the drag and scream" because no one realy walks properly. 

In every showyou will find quite a few are not being cooperative even for expert showers. 

If you are going to do showmanship you want that doe to walk well and stand well and be good abut being fiddled with.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

oh and some goats arent leaders in the ring = so if thats teh case then ask to start off behind someone. I would do this with angie because seh would walk fine most of the time behind another goat but in the lead she would try and back up on me and was acting like a mule


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## loveallgoats (Jan 29, 2009)

Thank you so much Stacy! I had been wondering about the collar thing too. One of the babies I am going to show is a bottle baby. Hopefully she will do good. The others I swear we mostly drag them around at this point lol


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## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

I have a question too. Are tattoos visible after you clean them or do you have to use a flash light? I can't see any of my goats tattoos, so I was wondering if I should re-tattoo them, but if the tattoos are visible it would mess them up if I re-did them. I only really look for the tattoo on one of my does, but I couldn't see anything and she is 6 years old, so could it have healed over?


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## farmergal (Jun 19, 2009)

are your goats ears dark? if they are dark you will need a flashlight to see them, and the judge will have a flashlight. I have never shown myself but I have attended goat shows and the judge shined a light through the dark-eared does to read the tattoo.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

chances are at 6 years it will be hard to see the tattoo but it might still be there.

if you do retattoo you need to send in her papers to AGS or ADGA and have them put "retatooed" on the certificate. This way if there is some overlapping of visible tattoo the judges dont DQ her because of the "extra" letters.


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## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

Okay, thanks! She is a black goat so I don't think you could get a goat darker then that  Though her ears are frosted white, but they are still dark on the inside.


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