As you may or may not know, I have been a goat crazy person since I was about 10 years old. This meant that I was constantly going against the grain, whether it be at school being the teenager that made the front of The GOAT magazine instead of being prom queen. This love for goats has persisted throughout my life. As a young adult I had to go many years without my own goat herd in college and for a few years after until we could get everything situated and to say I missed their silly antics is an understatement. That's why when we bought our farm and we got everything set up to take care of animals my first purchase was a goat. The rest is history! From one goat we went to three and from three we exploded to seven and from there we just stopped counting!
Our current number is 14 but four of those kids will be leaving here at the end if July. But shhhh... I am getting another buck this weekend. Isn't that what they say... four goats out, one goat in??...Still, in the grand scheme of things our herd is small. I only have two milkers and only breed a few goats a year in comparison to other breeders. That is what makes this past weekend so special, we attended the ODGA spring show. We went to enjoy ourselves and spend time with our goat family. I have always loved showing my goats, it puts a smile on my face even when they are bad or difficult to handle. This weekend out of over 140 other Nigerian Dwarf Goats at the show my tiny little herd held its own against very stiff competition!
My milkers did well winning there classes in several of the rings. This was my first time uddering Stella up and I was very impressed at her udder and attachment. This garnered her a Reserve Champion in Ring 4. My intermediate kid also did well either winning her class or placing second in all of the four rings. My dry yearling shocked me, by winning her class and going on to get her dry leg and earning Grand Champion in ring 4. The real winner at the show was Turbo my 2 year old buck out of Zoey. He was absolutely unbeaten, winning his class in both rings, then going on to win Grand Champion Nigerian Dwarf in both rings. But the real icing on the cake was when he went on to win Best Buck in show in both rings! I was absolutely and udderly shocked and pleased. We have worked to focus on good genetics, and breeding a few high quality goats, and this was proof to me that although our strategy may be unconventional, it works for us! We could not be happier and we love our goats no matter how they do, but winning validation sure feels nice!
I hope this encourages you to follow your hopes and dreams and do things in your own way. Don't let others influence you or tell you something that you know you don't believe in. No matter what you do you can succeed at it and enjoy it along the way!
Happy Goating!