The Mesa County Fair in Grand Junction, Colorado,
was so exciting this year!
This is the second post on this event. If you haven’t read part I yet, check it out here.
Sometimes, bucks and does just don’t cooperate with the calendar. As a result, we had some later babies born this past season.
Instead of coming at the end of December like usual, these babies were born the end of January. Here at just two days old, are Jarvis (on the right) and his little sister Jenny Lake (on the left).
They were born January 16, 2016, out of SVR1 Banana Boat and SVR1 Pistol Packin Pete’s Ruger.
Another picture of them at a month old asleep in the sunshine—Jarvis with the blue collar and bell.
Another one of our later babies, Duncan, was born January 28, 2016, out of SVR1 Ju Ju B’s Nala and SVR1 Pistol Packin Pete’s Ruger. Here he is with his mother Nala.
Here’s another one of him asleep in the sunshine.
You can see how big he is and he isn’t quite a month old in these pictures.
Two of our 4H kids, Brooklynne and Kolby, were happy to take these two little wethers home. Brooklynne picked out Jarvis and looked forward to showing him at the fair. Kolby is only 9 years old, but he was equally happy to pick out his market goat, Duncan, for his first year of showing at the Mesa County Fair.
Months later, when it came time for the fair, we were surprised at how many contestants were there. The Market Goat classes were especially large this year. We had lots of 4-H kids and FFA kids showing their animals.
Brooklynne is experienced at showing, so she did a beautiful job with her wether (Jarvis), as you can see from this picture.
Since both Duncan and Jarvis were about the same weight, Brooklynne and Kolby had to compete against each other. Both of their wethers were gorgeous and you could see the work that went into finishing them off, teaching them to lead, and clipping them up for show.
The Judge placed all the other goats in the order he had determined, leaving Jarvis and Duncan for more consideration. It appeared as if one of the wethers would be first and one would be second.
Standing back and looking again—the Judge took his time in his selection.
Both Brooklynne and Kolby were hoping that THEIR wether would take first place!
The decision made—Kolby takes first place with his wether Duncan.
Brooklynne—loving her animals as she does—told Jarvis it was okay. He was still number one in her book and he was a beauty!
After all of the Market Classes were finished, the first and second place winners were called back into the show ring for the announcement of the Grand Champion Market Goat.
With much anticipation, the 4-H kids and FFA kids brought their top animals back into the ring. Who would be crowned the fairest of them all?
CONGRATULATIONS Kolby and Duncan! That smile just says it all.
All the work, effort, and time involved to make this happen was worth it.
As Mom (Melissa) looks over the fence, Kolby high-5’s Dad (Spencer), as it is truly a family effort to achieve this high award!
Since Duncan was Mesa County born and bred, he also took Grand Champion Mesa County’s Finest.
Spencer presented this plaque to the best of Mesa County’s Goat Producer: Swan View Ranch, for the second year in a row.
Gerald and I were so pleased to share this honor with our great 4H kids.
Our thanks to everyone involved, especially to Spencer and Melissa and their wonderful children, Bailey, Brooklynne, and Kolby, for all the work they put into finishing these animals and doing such a wonderful job showing them.
Also a BIG thank you to our spectacular goat herd—we think they’d agree that a little extra grain is in order.
