A Fitting Plan: How to Get Goats Ready to Shine in the Show Ring (2024)

EPHRATA, Pa. — “Show goats need to be worked with and fed correctly over time — it’s all behind-the-scenes work,” said Jared Wetzel, a former 4-H’er and professional fitter from Manheim.

“People think you can just show up on show day and win. It’s all what happens at home,” said Wetzel. “It takes time, it takes a lot of practice, and it’s a team effort between the family, friends, whoever helps you get your animals ready, and 4-H leader. It’s not you, yourself and I, that’s not how people can win.”

“Fitting — which, for goats, is mostly clipping — is important because you want to enhance your goat and make it look its absolute best,” said Emily Welk, program assistant for Lancaster County’s 4-H livestock program.

“It starts with a clean goat,” she said. “Washing your goat before you clip, and again on show day, is important,” she said.

“Cleaning the body is one thing — make sure your head, ears, tail are clean, too,” she said.

Livestock exhibitors will want to clip at the three- to five-day mark before the show, Welk said.

“Depending on your clippers, you don’t want any clipper marks,” she said.

“Clipping a few days before the show ensures that the goat’s hair is even and smooth,” Welk said. “Taking the time to do most of your clipping before you get to the fair is beneficial to everyone. The more prepared you are, the better the experience for everyone.”

The process to exhibit a carefully fitted goat actually begins a month before the show, when exhibitors should give the animal its first clipping.

“Shear everything a month before the fair, it makes their hair nicer to work with,” Wetzel said. “That way, the hair is not shaggy. Also, lamb and cow hair is bad to work with when shearing it for the first time.”

Wetzel starts in with a No. 10 blade on the clippers, which leaves the hair a little bit longer, in contrast to market lambs that are sheared as close as possible.

Before it’s even time to get the clippers out, exhibitors should bathe their project animal once a week, or once every two weeks, Wetzel said.

Washing lambs too much can expose them to getting a fungus, so Wetzel doesn’t recommend washing lambs as often.

The bath not only helps stimulate hair growth, he said, but “the more they’re worked with, the better they’ll be at a show.”

Wetzel said that adding Shag Potion to their legs during those baths will also stimulate hair growth and gives the fitter more to work with when it is show time.

“Clipping is any way you like to do it,” said Wetzel.

However, Wetzel gave a few tips on how he prefers to clip animals.

In general, smaller clippers tend to work just fine for goats, he said, although for sheep, the lanolin in the wool and the thickness of a lamb’s wool create the need for heavier-duty clippers.

When it’s time to clip, Wetzel recommends that the fitter pull the goat’s skin taut as they work their way front and from the top down, especially at areas where the legs meet the body.

For instance, he said, “it’s ticklish around elbows on the foreleg, so the fitter should lift up the leg to get underneath.”

On a market goat, the fitter should “pretty much want to take everything off except for the leg hair,” he said, leaving about a fist-width of switch on the end of the tail.

To make sure the clipper lasts a long time and functions at its best, be sure to oil it often, Wetzel said. “Give it one pass over the length of the blade every 10-15 minutes. It’s better to keep them ‘drinking’ — then they last longer and run better.”

Although the majority of the goat’s body gets clipped with the No. 10 blade, the fitter should leave the hair on the legs until just above the elbow junction, and just above the stifle joint, then blend the clipped area into the longer hair of the leg.

“So, when you brush it up, then blow it up, and put adhesive in, it looks nice — I’d rather leave more on than take too much off,” he said.

After the clipping, give the goat a quick rinse-off to get rid of any itchy cut hairs left behind.

A once-over on the legs with a mini Rotobrush on a cordless drill, from fetlock up, bringing the hair up on the front and back, and the inside and outside of the leg, helps to persuade the leg hair to stand out a little fuller and get the goat used to the routine of the Rotobrush.

The Rotobrush procedure should be done every other night for two weeks before the show, he said.

While market goats are mostly close-clipped, for a breeding doe, Wertzel said to use a medium blending blade on the legs or a super blocking blade and blend it in.

A Fitting Plan

In short, a fitting schedule over the summer, for a fall show goat, looks something like this:

• Wash goats once a week. It helps the hair grow, and helps the goats get comfortable with the process.

• Several times a week, the goats should be walked, braced and worked with, in general.

• One month prior to show, do a once-over clip.

• Two days before the show, do a light clip to get all the hair off, making sure to smooth any lines. Use the blending brush on legs; Rotobrush that evening as well. On the next day, wash goats, blow them out, Rotobrush them again.

Then, let them relax, Wetzel says: “You want your animals as hydrated and as energized as possible. Keep them cool — you want them as relaxed as they can be. Because if they’re relaxed, that’s when they’re at their best.”

• The day before the show, the less work you have to do, the better. “If you see a few spots, you might get them,” Wetzel says, but the less you disturb your goats, the better.

• On show morning, wash the goats and blow-dry them. Rotobrush the hair up, fluff it up, put adhesive in, do a touch-up on blending their legs, and put blankets on them. Allow at least three hours before the show to wash them so you have two hours to get them dried off and ready.