The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Cinderhills on July 14, 2010, 10:03:06 pm
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Visited the Yorkshire Show today, primarily to see the goats and sheep. The goats were gorgeous. However a couple of the British Saanen (like mine) were so skinny, they looked unhealthy. Is that normal? The owner wasn't around to talk to. I know mine are on the larger side (they were very skinny when we rescued them) but this looked not right to me. You could really see their spine and the stomach caved in so much. :goat:
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Maybe the goats are feeding kids? Jasmine dropped a lot of weight once she was feeding two greedy kids, and no matter how much food she had, she looked quite skinny.
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Yes, probably is. I've not had experience with goats and kids but that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up. :)
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I cannot see a breeder entering goats at a prestige show such as the Great Yorkshire if they were in a "poor" condition. It is a window for selling your stock, and is not a very good advert if you turn up with goats not looking good. Apart from that, members of the public who know nothing about goats, would probably think they were starved of food. And it would be pointless entering them in such a show, because they would have no chance of winning anything.
Like you say, if you are used to big fat goats, it would be noticeable if these goats were the opposite :D
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Hi Cinderhills,
It could just be that they are really heavy milkers. What were their pens like? Did they have hay available? Grass and or branches? Did they have bowls of concentrated food or Alfalfa? You should be able to tell from what is around their pen how well looked after they are. I can assure you I know several people who are showing their goats at the Yorkshire, and if they were mistreated, it would have been reported to the RSPCA by now.
And Roxy is correct in what she says, it would be odd to enter poor quality or thin goats to a big show like that.
I have to say, I was supposed to be showing their this year, and couldn't get because my colleague at work had to have time off to move house. Part of me was quite glad though on seeing the rain there has been this week.
Beth
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:wave: i visited the great yorkshire this year too i know a number of the breeders that were at the show some of the saanens there were owned by one of the top goat judges, actually i could honestly say i saw nothing that would have alarmed me into thinking unconditioned goat ( i have been brought up in a home that has breed and shown goats for over 40 years) all shows have a on site vet that visits each section so i am sure he/she would have picked up on any problem.
all the goats i saw were well fed & watered and the show supplies cut grass daily.
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Thanks for your replies. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think that they were mistreated, I just thought it was strange to me that they were so skinny. But now I know the reasons it makes sense. As I said before, I'm so used to seeing my girls who are probably on the larger side. :)