I am at the point where I really would like to shave a couple of my goats to get pictures for the website. If I have posed this question before and am repeating myself my apologies...
Here's the issue, one doe who has a really long thick coat, is also mostly white with pink skin. I have worried that if I shaved her she would get a terrible sunburn. I just bought clippers with those plastic guards so I think I can leave enough hair behind to keep her from burning but clip her down enough to show off her profile.
Right now she is fat and towards the end of her lactation, maybe not the best circumstances for a photo. Option #2 is to do it after she kids in Feb. Then the sun is less strong too. But we also get some chilly nights that time of year. So I am assuming that like a horse she would need a blanket if it went below maybe 50 degrees. (we are BIG weenies down here and it is so hot all the time that 40s feels SO COLD!!! Then she would be thinner and with a bigger udder but I have to buy her a blanket which is a pain. Am assuming the little dog blankets would work on a ND.
Any thoughts? Have another doe coming who is also white and shaggy so same dilemma
Replies
Normally goats are clipped with a #10 blade, but if you clipped her with a #7, she'd still look pretty good, and it would leave more hair.
Regardless of when you clip her, you can always put a t-shirt on her to protect her from either the sun or the cold. Perhaps you have an old child's t-shirt that would fit her?
No reason I can't shave her a little longer. I only want to do it because I think she's a nicer goat than her shagginess gives her credit for. She's bred to a nice buck & when I sell the kids I'd like for people to know what's really behind those kids. I don't want to show her or anything like that.
Only other reason I want to shave her is that the pastures are muddy right now and I am milking her 2x a day and the girls with shorter coats are MUCH easier to clean up. So she's getting a dairy clip no matter what. I just kind want to buzz it all off and see what she really looks like under there.
They have a shade structure that they spent a lot of their day under but I know first hand just how quick you can get fried by this super sun.
Is there any reason you can't trim her long, and sight your reasons (pink skin/no burn) for not cutting her closer? I would think as a buyer, I would accept that reason, and not mind the longer coat.