Question: What should I use as a goat finisher to build muscle?
Answer: Sarah,
Thank you for your e-mail. We recommend either Show Chow Show Goat pellet or N-Timidator Goat Ration R-20 made by Land O Lakes Purina feed as the sole ration for meat goats intended for show.
Thanks,
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Question: I have 40+ boer goat kids that I will be weaning soon in order to sell in March and April as show prospects. They will weigh approximately 40 to 60 lbs. at weaning. They have been eating a 14% textured feed and alfalfa grass mix hay along side their dams. What feed program should I utilize to give them the right look for sale? Also what program should I reccommend to buyers that take home these animals for show?
Answer: Chris,
Thank you for your e-mail. We recommend feeding N-Timidator Goat Ration R20. This is an excellent feed for young goats all the way to show. We will also have a new product this year called Power Surge that will be available in April. This is an excellent product for getting goats, lambs, pigs, and cattle to grow, put on cover, muscle dimension and keeping them healthy.
Thanks again,
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Question: This is my senior year so at the moment I’m raising 3 lambs and a goat for FFA. I have a 135lb medium wool going to Houston who’s getting 4 lbs feed/day. I have a FWX who weighs 120lbs going to Austin who’s gettin 3 lbs feed/day. I also have a smaller 96 lb FWX ewe who’s going to be shown Feb. 6 at our school show. She’s getting 4lbs feed/day as well.
I also have a 98lb boer goat being show Feb. 7 as well. He’s getting 4lbs feed/day.
Is that an ok amount to be feeding them? What can I be doing to get them ready for show?
Answer: Stephanie,
Thank you for your e-mail.
The amount fed to your lambs and goats depends upon 1) How they are growing…as lambs and goats tend to be different on growth rate and how they utilize feed; and 2) What the lambs and goat look like in physical appearance. That is what matters most; what the animal looks like when it enters the showring.
So, with all that said, I think the feeding rates are appropriate but if they are gaining too fast or too slow, you might want to adjust the feeding rate or adjust the amount of exercise.
Your lambs and goat should be exercised daily. Exercise and feed go hand in hand in determining how fast your animal grows and what it looks like. Look at it kind of this way; your lambs and goat are athletes that need to be in training to look fit, muscular, and ready to show and perform in the showring for you.
Practice everyday showing every animal. This will teach them what is requested of them in the showring. Also, practice bracing or getting the lambs to push against you as you push against them so that they flex their muscles when the judge views them and handles them in the
showring.
Besides the HONOR Showlamb feeds and the N-Timidator Goat Ration R-20 we have HONOR Champion Drive Topdress that does a great job at building a lamb’s and goat’s top and developing muscle expression. The normal feeding rate is about 1/2 lbs (or 1 yellow scoop inside the bucket) perday.
Hope this has helped. Good luck and thank you again,
Dr. Kevin Burgoon
HONOR/Show Chow Technical Nutritionist
Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC
Question: I need to put more muscle on my goat. Is there a specific feed that will
help? I am currently feeding 2.5lbs per day of N-timidator Goat Ration R-20
to my 80 lb goat. Is this enough, or too much? Thank you!
Answer: Krystin,
Thank you very much for your e-mail and for choosing N-Timidator Goat Ration R-20 made by HONOR Animal Nutrition.
Actually, you can feed your goat a little more. Currently, you are feeding a little more than 3% of the goat’s bodyweight. You can feed 4% if you like, which would be 3 to 3 1/2 lbs per day.
Also, we have a product called HONOR Champion Drive Topdress which does a great job at adding dimension to muscle, especially the goat’s top.
We recommend feeding 1/4 to 1/2 lbs per day. You can feed more when limiting weight gain. In that case, you can feed up to 1 to 1 1/2 lbs per day.
Question: My son is showing goats for the 2nd year. We are doing better this year running the goats. One looks really good, muscle tone is building and his skin is tight. The other one is building muscle, but it looks like he has big oblong water balloons on both sides and his skin is still loose. What can we do to alleviate this look? We have 2 gallon water buckets hanging in each stall and keep it full. Thanks for your help.
Answer: Melody:
Thank you for your e-mail. I am not sure about the things that look like water balloons. However, the tight skin is genetic. Some lambs and goats have a nice, thin tight hide and some do not. It is genetic.
Really, there is little if anything that can be done to alleviate loose hide.
By the water balloons, I am envisioning the goat has some middle or belly. Limiting roughage (hay, grass, etc…) will help this.
N-Timidator is a complete feed and you should not need to offer additional roughage.
Question: We are raising boer goats for our children to show in the market class at the fair in August. They are rapidly gaining weight! We need to maintain their current weight since they are close to the weight limit for the show. Presently, we are feeding Show Chow Goat Feed with Honor Top Dress. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, we really like your products!
Answer: Shiela,
Thank you for your e-mail and for choosing Show Chow and HONOR show products. To limit weight gain, you can reduce the amount of Show Chow Goat feed, and increase the amount of HONOR Champion Drive Topdress.
Depending upon the weight of you goat, you might consider feeding 1 lbs of Show Chow goat feed, and 1 lbs of Champion Drive Topdress and exercise the goat. The exercise and the reduction in feed intake will limit weight gain.
Question: We have Boer goats and wool sheep (small flocks). We are trying to set things up so that we can combine the animals in one large area instead of small pens. Our challenge is how to feed them. The alfalfa/grass hay isn’t a problem, but grains are. We typically feed the sheep a 4way grain. Last year we used the Honor goat feed for the goats and we liked it. I know we need to watch the copper in the sheep feed…Do you have any suggestions for what we could feed to the mixed group? Right now it’s just the young ones (6-8 months) that are together since the mature ones are being bred. I hope you can help us with our delimma. Thanks!
Answer: Debi:
Thank you for your e-mail. If at all possible we recommend separating species, especially during feeding. However, if facilities hinder that and sheep and goats are fed together, we suggest feeding a sheep feed.
HONOR Showlamb Grower is a good choice. You are correct that goats need some copper, but sheep usually cannot tolerate any added copper except in extreme circumstances. It is always a good practice to not feed sheep supplemental copper in any form.
In that light the best choice for feeding goats and sheep together is the HONOR Showlamb Grower.
Question: My daughter is currently raising 4H projects for our San Juan County fair in August. We just started feeding Purina Show Chow to the lambs and goats. We have two goats that are not picking up weight very fast. Can you please help and give us some information on all your products. We have one supplier that we know of here in the Farmington, NM area. Thanks so much!
Anwer: Tammy,
If I am understanding correctly, you are giving the 3 goats 4 lbs of day total for all 4. So, that would be 1.33 lbs per day per goat. That equates to about 2.5% of their bodyweight per day. They should be getting about 4% of their bodyweight daily. That would be a total of about 6.3 lbs per day. This will make a difference in how fast they grow and develop.
The lambs are the same way, they should be getting 4% of their bodyweight daily. I recommend cutting back on the hay for the goats. The amount you are feeding (2 flakes) will decrease voluntary intake and decrease growth rate due to the dilute of energy and other nutrients. I suggest feeding goats and lambs about a double handful of loose hay per animal per day. Or about ? flake of a small square bale per lamb/goat per day.
It is okay to feed goats lamb feed, but it is NOT okay to feed lambs, goat feed. Goat feed has added copper which can accumulate in the liver of sheep (they do not metabolize this trace mineral very well) and lead to a toxic situation and death.
At the present time we do not have a feed for ewes or does of breeding age. Thank you again for your e-mail. Please let me know if you need more information.
Question: I saw the prizes for the show formula for the goats and rabbits. I have these animals along with dogs, a pig and chickens. Is there a program for the weight circles for the pig, dog and chickens? Also some of the feed is bought by my school for animals at school. We use Purina brands at home. Could I buy some to these weight circle prizes w/o the weight circles. It would be really cool to have some of the tshirts, caps and bucket for shows. Thanks!
Answer: Kayla,
Every time you choose Purina Mills Show Chow brand (cattle, pigs, lambs, goat, show poultry) as your first choice of feed, you’re on your way to earning great rewards. On the back panel of each bag of Purina Mills Show Chow feed is a special weight circle. You’ll recognize this as the Show Chow Weight Circle emblem.
Cut this emblem out, save them up and redeem them for the prizes you really want! Rabbit owners can redeem proofs of purchase for Advance Nutrition Show Formula and for Rabbit Chow Professional Formula. Goat owners can also use Goat Chow Feed weight circles for prizes in the Show Chow Feed Rewards Program. We do not offer these prizes for dogs. You can purchase any of the prizes you wish without the weight circles at www.Shop4Show.com. Thanks for your interest in our program! Have a great day!
Question: Which feed is better, Honor or Show Show? Why? Right now, I feed Show Chow to my goats and poultry.
Answer: Sarah,
Both Show Chow and Honor are premium value-added show feeds that will help your animals reach their full genetic potential. If you’re having good luck with Show Chow Goat feed…stay with it. We do not have a product offering for show poultry in the Honor brand. Both the Show Chow and SunFresh Recipe brands from Purina Mills will provide your birds all they need to maximize growth, feathering, coloring and overall health.
