What a weekend! What a week leading up to this weekend. We are all exhausted, sun burned but exhilarated and proud. Friday night was the youth only show that started strictly with showmanship, which is the judge judging you and not your goat, although you do take a goat into the ring. We left at 1 to get to the fair ground early by 2 to get our pens and get them set up. We only took the truck that night with Cheedoe and Dawn. Saturday was the "open" show where any age can show so the mix of ages was nice.
I started clipping on Wednesday! The temps have been something awful here and I've been show clipping in the early mornings and late evenings partly because of the heat, partly because I have some darker goats and wanted to give them a few days for their hair to grow in just a tiny bit so they didn't look patchy and partly because the clippers get hot and I need the break. Everyone was cranky so short stints made them easier to work with. I was still clipping Saturday morning at 6 AM!
Our first show out as a family and we had quite an assortment of placings. Cheedoe, who is quite a nice junior doe, looked horrible once clipped and I don't mean in confirmation. She has lovely Nubian attributes but her coloring underneath, in my opinion, just made her show awfully. That's it, it's as simple as coloring making her look not as nice as the others, or at least that's my opinion.. It could have been my clip job for sure but she's so many different colors in all the "wrong" spots and had I known, I would have left her un-clipped or left her really long anyway! I almost hated to take her and she showed at the back of her class each time. It's just not her fault.
Rachel made our hearts burst with pride. Jeremiah and I were at opposite sides of the ring and both of us were nearly moved to tears watching her in that show ring like she'd done it a million times before. Every thing we'd worked on she followed to a "t" from the way she payed attention to the judge and moved when the judge moved, walked with confidence and set the goat up. She was just awesome.
Friday night the judge made a mistake in thinking Rachel had gone the wrong way in a showmanship class when she hadn't. She was at the top of her game that night! I cannot tell you the utter disappointment to be called out like that by the judge and I had half a mind to say something, as in interrupting the judge right then and there. While the lesson from the judge to be learned was that you always go in a clockwise rotation around the judge the real lesson that we reminded her of was that people make mistakes and as long as Rachel knew the truth it was okay and she did. It was still a hard pride pill to swallow though for a while when it hadn't been her at all!
I was not showing my best being totally exhausted and a nervous wreck about a late start on Saturday morning, helping the kids get ready and making sure everyone knew which goats we up next. I don't do well in the heat, couple that with a soda I shouldn't have had, not enough sleep, dirt and it makes for a participant who should have handed it over and under the right circumstances, would have gladly.
Saturday brought hot temps, cranky goats and exhausted participants and show goers alike. Rachel showed Dawn for her junior class. Dawn didn't want to walk, wanted to lay down and just quit and did. Rachel, being a bit nervous to begin with and is somewhat of a child who wants to blend in, became overwhelmed when the crowd began laughing (not at her, at the fact that animals are animals and in the middle of the show decided enough was enough, she just wanted to be a goat, lay down and chew her cud). Rachel, partly thinking they were laughing at her and partly just plain frustrated, broke down and began to cry. Daddy and mommy to the rescue with a few encouraging words from us and the judge and she pulled herself up by her boot straps and drove on to come in 2nd in a class of over 20 (where Jeremiah and my juniors placed 5&6th I believe) and went on to show Dawn yet again just a short while later with Apricot (dry (not in milk and not bred) yearling) and I in the class for Grand and Reserve Grand (which we didn't win but still we made it).
Her perseverance was testament to the whole weekend, truly. Saturday morning after such a long week for me with the kids home full time from school, trying to get goats clipped along with all the usual chores and regular work and all the work Rachel, Drew and I had done with the goats, I really just wanted to fall back to sleep at 5 AM when the alarm went off. I wanted to call it quits at 6 AM while shaving udders and knowing I'd run out of time before I could get it done. But in my heart, as a mother and teacher and leader, I knew despite my desire to want to give in and give up, it wouldn't be fair to the children nor would it show them what we try to instill in them. And with a grateful heart, it brings me to tears to think of her strength and will in mirroring us as a family all weekend.
After a disappointing morning with our yearling milkers placing at the end of their class, we went out on a high with our juniors doing very well and Moon (our yearling buck we brought from Ca.) taking Reserve Grand Champion behind an 8 year old La Mancha. There was lots of gushing over him by quite a few folks including the judge. I don't take the credit, I give that all to his breeder and Jeremiah did a better job of showing him than I would have. Moon seems to like him better anyway- must be a guy thing- and I was just a wreck at that point anyway- completely overheated and spent. Jeremiah-being the ever patient man he is and probably wondering why on earth he was showing dairy goats of all things instead of 4 wheeling or something more manly- admonished that while they may be dairy goats, it was an event the whole family could participate in and if we weren't at a goat show, we'd be at home working on something around the farm for the goats. So, you see, one may as well have fun with it.
Our yearling milkers had nowhere near the (udder) capacity as every one else. I couldn't believe the size of these yearlings for one and for two the size of their udders. Mine were not full by any stretch. We did not get home until nearly 11 PM and because my kids are dam raised, they had been drinking up until 11 PM Friday night when we got home from the youth show. I don't like to "over udder" anyway but they weren't as full as they should have been and I know that. There's a lot to take into consideration on the milkers for sure and circumstances are circumstances.
We were happy to be home Saturday evening. I was happy to get the goats back home. King, our LGD, was overjoyed to have his goats back home and we were glad to take a shower! I didn't mention yet that King was so upset about us leaving with half the herd he jumped over the back fence and chased us half way down 4th street! I had to run him all the way back home-just another thing that made me want to call it quits.
But anyway, a very good time was had by all despite. Not wanting to forget Drew who, by his own admonition, wasn't ready for showing yet, was as good as gold all weekend. I was expecting him to be bored and cranky and let that be known by acting out but he was just as involved as everyone else minus being in the show ring. The toys and coloring books didn't even make it out of the truck and his "shell" of shyness an unsure-ness has either broken or was temporarily put to the side because he sat and talked with folks he didn't know and chatted and stepped up to the plate and did what was asked of him happily. This goat showing thing, while it may not be Jeremiah's cup of tea, sure did bring a lot of positives to our already close family this weekend.
Sunday will be spent relaxing! We're tired. I'll try to get some photos up.
