[MollieGoat]

This year will be the third year with market goats at my county fair. We are having a hard time setting realist weight requirements... I am hoping to hear about what other county fairs and any other market goat shows weight requirements are. Our rules last year were that the goats had to be born after January 1st. Most of us that were raising market goats for this specific project kidded around the end of January through the beginning of February. At the initial weigh in on June 14 the goats had to be a minimum weight of 35 pounds and could not exceed 65 pounds. 59 days later we weighed in at the fair and the goats had to weigh at least 50 pounds with no maximum and meet an average daily gain of .35 pounds... None of the 8 market goats met that. We will be having a meeting to revise these rules for next year so I am just looking to see what other county's and states are doing.

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

So did none of them meet the minimum or were they all to big?

A 35lb minimum on a goat that could potentially be 6 months old is crazy to me, my kids are 60lbs by two months old!

At our fair, I believe the minimum weight is 65lbs, and the maximum pay weight is 120lbs. Anything over 120lbs and you don't get paid for the excess weight, you'd only get paid up to 120lbs weight.

 

[ksalvagno]

What breed of goats are you using? Do you have a date when people have to have their goats in their possession? Like if the fair is in July, they have to have the goat by the first of May?

 

[kccjer]

We don't gave any requirements for weigh in. Weigh in is first week if may and fair is last week of july. Minimum weight for sale is 50. No max and no rate of gain requirement. Anything under 50 pounds shows as a prospect. We do have a highest rate of gain prize. Age requirement is simply under 1 year.

 

[MollieGoat]

Little-Bits-N-Peices- none of the goats in the program(all 8 of them) made the .35 average daily gain. Yes I thought it was ridiculous too! All of my wethers that were born at the end of January were 80 pounds at the beginning weigh in(where the max is 65) so I have to use some of my smaller does.
Kslavano- all of our market goats are boers or boerX. Yes the first weigh in is in June so everyone has to bring their goats to check in. That's when the project "officially starts" for the record book.
Kccjer- I really like how your fair does that! Since our program just started and we are trying to get more participation, I think that would really simplify things!

 

[ptgoats45]

All of the fairs I showed at we had a tagging day that was usually about 60 days before fair. You had to own your animal by that day. You would take it in and they would put a fair tag in its ear to identify it and make sure that is the goat you brought back to the fair. They were not weighed at that time, but if you want the records you could weigh them and just not have the maximum weight requirement. At fair time, the goats had to be at least 60 lbs to be eligible for the market show. If they were less, they had to be at least 40 lbs to be shown in the "feeder" class. These goats did not get in the premium sale. If the goat weighed over 120 lbs then it was still shown, but if you made it into the sale then you only got paid for up to 120 lbs. All goats had to still have their milk teeth in (so they were less than a year).

I think I would cut out the maximum weight at tagging day and the ADG. You could still weigh them at tagging and weigh them at fair then give an award for the person whose goat had the highest ADG. That would give more incentive to feed them properly for maximum growth. To get more participation I think you will need to make the requirements a little more lenient to start with so you do have goats that are the right size by fair time.

 

[kccjer]

Yep. Agree with ptgoats. So to sum it up:

No minimum or max at weigh-in.
All animals weighed in and tagged.

At fair: minimum weight for sale is 60 pounds.
Max weight 120 for sale (you only get oaid for 120 pounds)
Anything under 60 shows in "prospect" or "feeder"
Prize for highest rate of gain.

I do know some fairs that have the market price set and the bids are for your "premium"

 

[HoukFarms]

At our fair we have weigh in the 2-3 week of may and their is no limit or maximum , then our fair is the second week of August and the limit is 60lbs. And the max is 125lbs. If you are over or under you have to take your goats home . Rate of gain Is if you get the best you get a ribbon and an award

 

[SugarBush Farms]

At our fair there is no weigh in(except for the when we bring them to fair) all goats must be born after Jan. 1st and weigh at least 40lbs to sell in the auction and they must be in the exhibitor's possession by May 1st.
Both dairy and meat breeds can compete(separately)
Also, at our auction they are classified as a small animal and therefore sell by the head, not weight. Grand Champ tends to sell for between $50-$150.
We had one market goat last year and three the year before. It is not a very big or very good program at the moment, but we are working on it.