There are five necessary things to succeed with a show goat.

1. You must buy a good goat
2. Take good care of the goat. You must feed him right, keep him wormed and keep him growing.
3. Showmanship. It is most important that the goat lead well and set up well.
4. You must be lucky but most of it is hard work and practice.
5. You have to have the right goat for the right judge at the right time and the right place. Each judge tends to prefer a certain type of goat, and it is a god idea to observe that judge enough to know which of your goats will do best under that judge.

Lacey Gannon, pictured with her Grand Champion "Pistol". It has won four grand championships at the time of the article.

Choosing the Right Goat

First, Lacey showed with her hand on one of her goats where the different parts of a goat are located from the viewpoint of a butcher. She said judges often ask an exhibitor to name and indicate these parts. The Forearm is the muscle that begins above the front knee and goes into the Shoulder. The Rack is the rib covering. The Long Back Muscle runs from the shoulder to the pinbone. The Rump is the top part of the goat's hind end and runs down to the Leg.

Balance is important when they look through a pen of several hundred kids trying to find the right one to show. The animal must have a long pretty neck and a good front end. It must be a profiling goat because judges like to look at a goat's profile. And it must have meat. The only way to be sure of that is to feel the goat.Be sure it is thick right behind the shoulders. That's hard to find. It must have a long, thick loin and a long rump. Be sure it is deep in the twist. That is really important.

From the last rib back is the hindsaddle. That portion of it's body should measure more than 50% fo the goat. The hind saddle is where the high dollar cuts of meat are. They look for a goat that is long-bodied and stands up off the ground good. They want one with a big old chest because the judges are looking for a big thick front end right now.

Another trait to look for seems like a little thing but has a big effect on a goat's appearance. Be sure he carries his tail curled up high. All goats will let their tails hang down when they get tired or sick, but some goats just naturally walk with their tails hanging down even when they feel good. That makes it look bad even thought it is well.

Once yo buy that good goat you must be sure it eats right. Don't just pour out feed and forget it; watch to see that he eats because the first sign of a problem is lack of appetite. The Gannons use a 17% protein feed to start off feeding her show goats and sometimes can continue with that feed all the way through.  If it isn't getting fat enough she adds a little corn to put a finish on it. Her goats don't get hay except for occasional alfalfa because they are afraid a goat will fill up on hay and not eat its pellet.

A goat requires at least 2% of its body weight in feed per day to maintain its weight. You have to increase that amount for the goat to gain. Its not easy to make goats gain. You're doing pretty good if it gains 1/4 lb. per day. When they travel to shows, goats don't keep on eating the way they did at home. Anytime you change a goat's environment, it will quit eating. The don't like it. To keep the goat from becoming drawn and beginning to lose weight, they drench it with Ensure or some other weight gain drink. Getting that sugar in him is important.

Lacey cautioned not tu use chocolate-flavored Ensure because the caffeine would make the goat react to a drug test. She recommended vanilla and strawberry flavors. One other way to help keep your goat on feed right is to let his favorite buddy stay with him if that is practical. Keeping the feed trough and water trough clean should have top priority. Any contamination of the pen or feed utensils by manure just increased the goat's chance of stomach worms. They treat their goats for stomach worms at least once a month even though SanAngelo is a dry climate.