Making goats coat ready for a show involves with a lots of regular tasks. Before the show date, you have to train your goat to walk beside you without fussing, get the goat accustomed to loud or strange noises and unexpected activities.
And you have to make the goat look it’s best for the show ring. You can’t make the goat look beautiful by grooming it thoroughly just before the show date.
Making Goats Coat Ready For A Show
You have to take regular care of your goat’s coat for a long time before the show. There is no replacement for time and elbow grease when preparing your goat’s coat for the show.
Here we are describing more about the process of making your goat’s coat ready for a show.
Brushing
Always try to brush your goats regularly. Use a stiff bristle brush for brushing your goats. Stiff bristle brush will help to keep your goat’s coat clean and shiny by lifting dirt and dead skins from their coat.
Use short and firm strokes to flick loose hairs and dust away from the coat. Always brush in the direction of hair growth.
Trimming
Regular trimming is an important part for grooming a goat. Always try to trim your goat’s hooves on a regular basis. And it’s a must for the show goats. If you keep your goats in a pen, then you have to trim their hooves after every six weeks.
But if your goats spend much of their time outside (especially on rocky or hard soil), then they will naturally wear their hooves down. So you don’t have to trim your goats frequently in such cases.
But in case of a show, it will be better if you trim your goat’s hooves one week before the show. Doing this will help you to make your goat’s hooves perfect before the competition. Your goat will get time to work out if there are any soreness in it’s feet.
Clipping
Clipping your goat’s coat on a regular basis will help to make it look neater. Clipping also help to easily judge the goat’s muscling and conformation. Before clipping, bathe and dry your goat perfectly (so that dirt can’t dull the clippers).
While clipping, be very careful and keep the length of the hair between 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. Perform a little cleanup around their hooves. Don’t clip below the hocks or knees.
By using a smaller set of trimmers, you can clip around the hooves and face of your goat. It’s a good idea, to clip the goat at least a week before the show. This will ensure a little grow back of hair (this will help masking clipper tracks and any areas of pink skin).
Bedding
Good bedding will directly help to keep your goat’s coat look beautiful. Always try to make a deep bed for your show goat, and clean it on a regular basis.
A clean and deep bed will help to keep the goat coat clean and ready for the show. Never let the bed to get dirty. Because dirty bed will damage the glamour of your goat’s coat.
Observe your show goat’s bed and pen several times a day, just before a few days of the show ring.
These are the common process for making your goats coat ready for a show. Along with the above process, good and nutritious feeding also play a vital role.
Good feeding directly help to make your goats look beautiful. So always provide them nutritious food, and take good care of them. Read how to show a goat.
