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 Expert
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| My daughter will be starting 4-H this fall and want's to show a Nigerian Dwarf. My sister showed dairy in high school so I know how to show one but all of her goats she bought trained. I would go the lazy route and buy trained also but I can't justify spending $500 plus on an animal that will have no real return.
Are there any resources you suggest for training them to square up? I remember my sister pinching the spine right in front of the hips to get them to do it but how do you get them to that point? |
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 "Spaz-tacular"!!
Posts: 20309
Location: Bennett, CO | Setting up and adjusting is actually going to be based on the does conformation rather than training. There is no real secret to getting them to square up... some goats you have to place every leg, every time.. other will do it on their own... either way it simply takes lots of time, and repetition |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| gotothewhip - 2016-09-16 11:23 AM
Setting up and adjusting is actually going to be based on the does conformation rather than training. There is no real secret to getting them to square up... some goats you have to place every leg, every time.. other will do it on their own... either way it simply takes lots of time, and repetitionÂ
^^^I would agree. Whether it's cattle, sheep, goats, horses, etc...you want to set them how it's the most appealing to the judge. So, if they have conformation flaws...they might not be as apparent. Now once they are set, getting them to stay that way is time and practice, time and practice. |
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Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | Â The return is the smile on your daughters face. It will be the best $500 you will ever spend. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I know in our county, as long as the animal is a breeding animal, some breeders will let you raise the animal and at the end of the fair will take it back. We do that with our Santa Gertrudis heifers. The kids take them after weaning, break them if we haven't already done it, and feed and take care of them for up to 2 years. The kid gets to have the heifer bred and keep the calf for themselves and we get a our heifer back to put in the herd. We also did that with my daughter's pigs. We took them back to the breeder after the show. You might see if they do that in your county. |
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Expert
Posts: 1280
Location: Texas | My daughter showed dairy goats. I loved those things! It will be easier than you think. Do lots of handling. Walking, stop, set up. Repeat. They are smart animals and catch on pretty quick. When your daughter shows successfully with a goat that she loves and trains, it will be a win no matter what. The crazy thing for us was milking! holy cow...er...I mean goat! That was fun and a lot of work! But the relationship she will have with a doe is so much more close than with a wether.
BTW we never spent more than $200 on a young doe, and though I can't remember how she placed at all those shows, I remember how much she LOVED doing it!
Edited by tracies 2016-09-16 2:27 PM
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Expert
Posts: 1898
| Thank you everyone for your responses! If she was older and I knew this was something she wanted to pursue and be competitive at I would have no issue spending the extra money on an already trained doe. Being that she is 5 and just in the mini group, I just want her to have fun and learn correctly from the beginning. Every year I see those little kids in the ring being pulled around, jumped on and drug by their projects. It really doesn't look like any fun to me!
A friend of ours had a registered 2 year old that she sold my daughter at an incredibly reasonable price. She will be bred for February/March babies to a registered buck, is leash and milk stantion trained already so it will just be teaching her how to set and stand in the ring. Hopefully since the doe is so well handled it will make the training a lot easier for us!
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Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | My best friend showed meat goats back in elementary, middle, and high school. She would go home every day and spend at least 2 hours plus on each goat she was showing. Talking, leading, running, building muscle with obstacles, I mean, she really worked with them. She'd have each of them stand in the stocks and groom them each day too. She could buy the most dinky goats in the world for $20-$30 each back then and by the time it was show season, those things looked like a million bucks. I can't remember the supplemetns she used but those goats were always so well mannered and muscled. You could tell the ones who worked with their animals and the ones who let their parents do all the work. They had no idea how to handle a goat, it was quite hilarious each year.
She made sale every year, with every goat.
Good luck to your daughter! I bet she is excited!  |
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