Show season has begun

Each year, the end of April marks one of my favorite seasons of the year. It’s not summer, but it’s show season.

The first show of the season is always the Weld County Goat Extravaganza held in Greeley, Colo. This show allows me to show both Boer and dairy goats, connect with other breeders and hopefully bring home a few ribbons.

Usually I head up to the show on either Friday night or Saturday morning. However, this year I was in Alamosa for a very special occasion.

For the past 20 months, I have been involved in a program called the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program. Through this program I have traveled all across Colorado, to Louisiana, to Washington D.C. and to China.

The weekend of the show was the culmination of the program, and although I love showing goats, I wasn’t going to miss my graduation.

I got back from Alamosa early evening on Saturday, and set to work prepping everything I’d need for the show.

Sunday morning began early at 4 a.m., and the pounding rain made loading the goats a challenge. The trailer was bedded heavy with straw, but even with that, the kids weren’t happy. I did my best to block the wind and then got on the road.

When I arrived in Greeley, I got through the vet check, and then began the mad scramble to get everyone unloaded and settled in less than a half hour before the show started. The vet check didn’t open until 7 a.m., and the show at 8, so by the time I got through that, I was short on time.

I quickly got everyone unloaded and changed into my show clothes. My first doe to show was Glitter, who is a yearling Alpine milker. After that I headed to show my first Boer of the day, a 0-3 month old percentage doe I call Katniss. She placed third.

Then it was back to the dairy ring, where I showed a 3-year-old LaMancha named Tornado, who won her class. Then I showed a three year old Nubian and a 4-year-old Nigerian Dwarf doe.

The dairy show then took a short break, and at that time I showed a young purebred buck kid. As soon as that show finished, it was back to the dairy ring to show my junior Alpine, LaMancha and Nubian kids.

The show went pretty quick, and even though I wasn’t as happy with the results as I would have liked, it was still good to get out and show. I know that had I been able to prepare the goats better the day before they would have done better, but I had another important responsibility. Such is life I guess.

I had my last spring dairy kids born in the middle of April, and added four more bucklings and a doeling to the total count. The triplets were born on their own, and I was able to catch my final doe, Lilly, give birth to a beautiful set of twin bucklings. All of the kids are doing well.

The does who kidded in February are all weaned, and it’s time for many of the kids to find their new homes. It’s bitter sweet selling kids sometimes, but I know they are going on to other homes to be productive.

I did add one new addition to the herd, and that is a senior Nigerian Dwarf doeling. I traded a Boer doe that I had, and Alkmene will be due in July. I sure hope she has a doe kid in there for me, since I’ve had so many buck kids born this year in the dairy herd.

We have managed to get all the outdoor pens clean, and are in the process of reworking the pig pen. Summer is here, and I’m ready for the nice weather!

Click here to see the published version in The Fence Post.