Cullman Goat Show May 2003

ALABAMA OPEN MARKET & INTERNATIONAL BOER GOAT SANCTIONED SHOW

CULLMAN, ALABAMA

24 MAY 2003

After attending several goat shows in the past four years, we finally determined it was time we took some animals to compare with others of their age and sex to see how our breeding program is progressing. We were quite pleased with the outcome.

On Friday before the show, we took the animals (Fletcher, Grover, Star Topaz, and Venus) to the vet's, and Wyatt Galbraith gave them all a clean bill of health - and a certificate to take to Alabama.

At the Cullman Agriculture Center, we located our "pen", settled in the animals, and set up our equipment and display.

Venus was especially happy - all the food and alfalfa she wanted!!

Our day began with a class in Goat Bathing 101. Jennifer Williams of Kingdom Acres Farm gave Ken a lesson in washing, shampooing, and drying goats.

Goat Bathing 101 was immediately followed with Goat Grooming 101. Jennifer taught him how to trim tails and trim around the hoof.

Linda Merrell, Jennifer's mother, taught Goat Grooming 102 - how to give styling hair cuts and pedicures.

The first victim of the class was BNZ Venus who soaked up the attention like a sponge.

KWM's Star Topaz, Venus' 4 month old kid, didn't care for either the bath or the blow drying, but she tolerated the attention

KWM's Grover didn't mind the bath or the grooming nearly as much as he hated being on and walking on a lead!

After all three animals were fluffed and dried, we were sure some new animals had been substituted for our pasture-raised goats. Suddenly we had SHOW GOATS!!

Grover weighed in at 55 pounds and this put him in the 35 to 60 pound class.

There were 16 market meat goats in this class, and Grover, who wasn't fond of walking or setting up, finished 3^rd!

Becky Williams did an outstanding job of showing Grover's best features to the judge.

Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. The bucks were moved to the top of the show because without a great herd sire, you're not going to have a great herd.

We were extremely happy to see Dawn Benz back in the show ring.

Finally it was time for Topaz to enter the ring and strut her stuff.

Or was it time for Jennifer Williams to drag her into the competition?

There were 19 goats in the under 6 month old class, and we were happy to see Topaz (1) not get tossed out of the ring for having too much white on her ears and (2) finish 9^th!!

It wasn't long before the big girls entered the ring.

Venus struts for Becky.

After a little initial resistance, Becky Williams was able to get Venus to prance around the ring and set up like a pro. And we were proud goat owners when Venus was awarded a 4^th place ribbon.

It was a long, long day, but we had a marvelous time. We learned the goats we are raising are competitive when compared to others, and we are right on track with our breeding program.

We had such a good time, we may show more of our goats at other venues.