Last weekend was our first show of the season, and I will be honest. I truly questioned my sanity getting ready for it. I decided to take four milkers, a yearling two kids and a buck. So that meant I had six full size goats to clip and prepare for the show. That isn't too bad seeing as I started early enough preparing, but with it being the first clip of the season, their hair was long and it took far longer than I anticipated readying everyone for the show. This meant I was out in the barn past 10 PM each night leading up to the show clipping one goat at a time.
I know anyone with a similar life can relate, with my toddler, our full time jobs and the farm, sometimes it feels like you are just hanging on by a thread. To top of my desire to question my life choices, we left in the pouring rain on Friday afternoon, and by the time I had all of the kids loaded, I was absolutely drenched to the bone. As we drove the hour and a half to the fairgrounds, Rob and I discussed and remarked at all the things we forgot to pack! The biggest issue was me forgetting to fill the fresh water tank on the trailer!!
Thankfully, we arrived without major incident, but as we pulled in to unload the goats, Rob noticed the trailer tires were extremely low, so we quickly offloaded the goats and the necessities, and Avery and I stayed to get the goats set up and Rob went off to find a Pilot where he could fill the tires up. Avery was great, hanging out with me and the goats and in her stroller while we set up. Timing worked out perfectly, because by the time we got everything set up and registration completed Rob returned! By this time our bandwidth was absolutely shot! So we elected to order dinner instead of cooking, Avery is very consistent with being ready for bed by 7:30 - 8 PM, so we were rushing to get all of the trailer set up before she turned into a little pumpkin! Rob graciously ran out to pick up the pizza and wings that we ordered while Avery and I set up the trailer!
Once dinner was done, it was bedtime for Avery, which I was concerned about. We tried staying in the trailer while she fell asleep, but that didn't work so we decided to walk around and visit while she went to sleep which thankfully worked and she slept well! The next morning we looked at the does and they looked fantastic! Everyone uddered well and I got to clipping udders to prepare for the show! Overall, the show was a fantastic success! In Ring 1 I had three 2 year old's to show and they placed, 1,2,3 respectively in a large and deep class, my single 3 year old won her class both days, and went on to be named Reserve Grand Champion. My yearling was placed 1st in both rings in a very large dry yearling class and went Reserve Grand Champion in ring 2. In ring 1 and 2 my buck won his class and ended up going reserve grand Champion in Ring 2! The two junior kids did well placing 2 and 3rd in both rings in another large Jr kid class. This is also while they are unclipped which always impacts placings.
Overall, I was extremely happy with how everyone did. The best icing on the cake was a buck that I bred and sold 2 years ago won his class in both rings and went Best In Show in both rings along with Grand Champion and Best of Breed. It is wonderful to see my buck being used and shown!!
I hope you all are enjoying shows as they get started up for the season! I will be wildly busy this upcoming week as I travel for work and I am the show chair for the WPDGA Show, if you are looking to show next weekend send me your entries! We will be there!!! Take care and Happy Goating everyone!
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