Courtesy of Danielle Langloism, Wikipedia CCLCongratulations Lela!
KILEEN, Texas — All Things Goat intern Lela Perez has spent hundreds of hours in the last year caring for her Boer goats and prepping them for shows. Her show season has just ended and we asked her to write about it:
“So much runs across my mind as I am standing in the show ring with a strong feeling of suspense as the judge moves down the line of goats towards mine.
All of the hard work I have done with my goats, nearly a year’s time, is all for this small moment. The judge runs his hand down my goat’s back, feeling his muscle, and then moves on to the next one.”
At county fairs all across the country, 4-H and FFA’s youth exhibitors show off their animal projects with the hope that they will win something. Every show requires a combination of good showmanship, hard work and dedication, and having a quality animal to start with.
It just so happens that it all came together for my breeder goat, Mamie Eisenhower, and I on March 3rd, 2010. She was awarded Reserve Grand Champion over about twenty other goats at our small city show. I was very happy and now can’t wait to see what she produces. She is due to kid in late May.
My meat goat, Sugar Daddy, also did very well considering that I knew he was not the best quality goat. He recieved fifth place in his class, and was posing perfectly for me. It has been another great year of showing and I feel that I have learned a lot to put towards next year.”
Hi, I have watched a lot of the 4-H kids with their goats at a lot of fairs. They spend a lot of time caring for them . Its really quite nice how much the goats are cared for. I “think” its great and a great thing for a 4-H person to do as I know you learn a lot from it. Besides, you can see how well behaved these goats are and its because the kids really love them too I think.