Gerald and I have been raising and selling Boer goats for quite some time now. Each spring, we have several wethers purchased by the 4-H students around the state of Colorado, but since we always seem to be working, we have never gone to the county fairs to watch these youngsters show their goats.
This year, that changed. On August 7, 2013, Gerald got home from work early, and I was ready to go. As luck would have it, the Delta County Fair in Hotchkiss, Colorado, was going on that day, so we jumped in the car and went. What a thrill awaited us!
We were surprised at the size of the classes. It was wonderful to see so many fine Boer goats being raised and shown in this area—equally as nice to see so many fantastic young people caring for their animals and displaying so much pride in them as they led them across the show arena.
Especially in today’s world, where it seems young people are constantly absorbed in their technological gadgets, it was refreshing to see young kids who are still interested in animals and agriculture.
We recognized two of these young people as being some that had purchased wethers from us the end of March. That, of course, really piqued our interest. The classes were large with several goats competing. Many were so big that the judge had to split her decision into two parts—after the first wave, several goats were dismissed, leaving only 5 or so in the ring for final placing.
Evan came in with his goat—Ryland—and we immediately remembered this little wether from our 2013 herd. (Evan is the young man in the light blue shirt, below.) When that class finished, Evan took 4th place. We were very proud, and so was he!
Later on in the day, Emily came in with her goat Kenny (below). He is a brother to our Clint, and came in looking tall and robust and well put together, but of course we were prejudiced, so we waited to see what would happen. Such suspense as they marched around and around the arena!
Finally the judge started lining up the final six. Emily and Kenny were in the top four at first. Then they were in the top three. We thought that was pretty good, but then they were in the top two! Gerald and I were getting goosebumps, and finally, it was announced: Emily and Kenny took first place in their class!
We had such a great time watching the show and really hope to be able to attend more of these wonderful fairs. A big congratulations to Emily and Evan for taking such great care of your goats and for doing such a super job showing them. We will look forward to next year!
Here comes Miss Fluff Puff—our 17-year-old cat—down toward the house from the barn to let us know that it’s time to go do the chores. She’s telling us the goats are hungry and so is she! We have learned that her favorite food is the moist and succulent paté, so of course that’s what she gets.
Doesn’t she look great for 17 years old?
