I am extremely stressed this time of year, it's the annual time when I have too much to do and not enough of me to go around. It makes me sick to my stomach, makes my head pound, I catch every sickness going around, and I am sure it takes years off my life. I am working on changing that, but change is not always fast enough for me. My first meeting came and went, and it went off without the tiniest hitch. A great way to start this "season" for me. The second meeting will be a week from Wednesday, and so far it is going well. Great attendance on all accounts, and my i's are dotted and my t's are crossed. The last meeting is a bit of an uncertainty for me, as it seems that the committee I am working with is setting me up to fail. I am working on turning things around so that despite their best efforts, the meeting succeeds, but obviously this is causing me to expend much effort, and certainly much stress. That meeting ends on the 20th of October. So, in about a month, I will be going on my annual 2-week drinking and sleeping bender. : ) Want to come with me?
For now, I am enjoying the farm and all of the sensory input it gives me:
I see the leaves turning as fall starts to creep in.
I smell Wolfgang's stinky ass as he is in rut now! About a month from now, he and Cindy will have a little rendezvous, and we'll have spring babies!
I hear the sound of the tractor in the north pasture and east field. Not only is the corn coming out tomorrow (cross your fingers that it's a good year for corn-- ethanol!), but we are actually getting a SECOND CUTTING of hay! That is exciting, as that field used to be crappy. We pay 70 cents a bale to our man who cuts and rakes it. He drives the bale and we (and our wonderful friends) stack it on the rack and then put it up in the shed. The 70 cents saves us a fortune over the winter when we are looking at paying $4.00 a bale from the farm store.
I taste the YUMNESS of the apples on our apple tree! The first year we moved in, our tree was either struck by lightning or had some sort of wind damage, but half of it had fallen off over the driveway. The following fall there were hardly any apples. Last fall there were a few more, but not many. THIS year we are having a bumper crop of red delicious apples! They are so good, so much better than the store apples with their wax and preservatives. I have made a batch of apple butter, and hopefully will make applesauce some time this week.
I feel the crisp cool mornings when I go out to feed. It's been nippy here, down into the 40's. B told me last night that the only time he missed our old (new) house was when he came to bed and it was freezing in our bedroom. I told him that having no heat in your bedroom gives you bragging rights. Or at least the people you work with can talk about your stupidity behind your back! We gave the kids the rooms with heat, so we are without. At least he's guaranteed not to have to sleep on the couch all winter-- I need his warmth.
Back to work-- I've been at it all weekend. So much else to tell-- L's football success, the goats' bout with pinkeye, Luna's continual, EXHAUSTING bout with bloat... ugh... after the bender, I'll tell you all about it.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
My Blog-o-Versary
Today is the second anniversary of my blog! I started September 13, 2004. How far I have come...
Also, B and I are celebrating the 19th anniversary of our first date. Yippee! : )
We met when we were 19, so now we have been together longer than we have not.
Happy day! I wonder if the goats will throw us a suprise party.
Also, B and I are celebrating the 19th anniversary of our first date. Yippee! : )
We met when we were 19, so now we have been together longer than we have not.
Happy day! I wonder if the goats will throw us a suprise party.
Monday, September 11, 2006
There’s No Crying in Farming (aka: a fatal collision of nerves, work stress, PMS, bad luck, inexperience and a full moon)
(caution: talk about guts will ensue, not for the squeamish)
Last week at the show I did not blog the entire story. Mostly because I was a bit in denial, but some because I just didn’t want to think about it and hoped it would go away (isn’t that denial?).
When you practice leading a goat for a show, unless you’ve started with them from day one that they are a tiny bottle baby, they don’t like it. They pull and drag around until you get the hang of it. Most animals don’t take very long to get used to it, and don’t mind it at all.
Most.
Aurora was not in the category of “most.” She was in the category of, “I might have gotten the hang of it the last time we practiced, but this time I don’t like it, and I really don’t recall what we did last time anyway.” We struggled and pulled and dragged and coughed and sweated and didn’t get too far. She acted like this was something new every time we did it. We practiced every day for about 10 days. Some people start later than that. They say you don’t want them too docile or they start dozing or they just look too calm and without that wide-eyed spirited look. I am not sure who “they” are, though. And I’m not sure if I agree with “them.” But, my point is, 10 days in advance was not putting it off until the last minute, according to “them.”
So, during all of this struggling and wrassling, L said to me, “Ewww, what’s with her butt?” Okay, if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that poop and the poop area of the body is not something that is a tee-hee for us. It’s way beyond that. It’s about health, money, and work around here. So asking me about her butt was a very weird thing for him to do. I looked at her butt, and said that it looked fine to me, and that I was surprised that after all this time he thought goat poop was offensive. He just shrugged, and I didn’t think anything of it.
Fast forward to last week’s show. I already said that we struggled and dragged just before the show, and that I finally took her to the ring to wait because it was such a struggle to get her anywhere. Well, on the way, a boy was following behind and asked me what was wrong with her, and if it was a prolapse. Prolapse to me (until now) was defined as the uterus coming “inside out” during kidding. Well, Aurora is 5 months old, and is not even ready to be bred, let alone kidding and able to have a prolapse. So I just gave him a weird look, and then looked at her butt. Well, boy howdy was I in for a shock! Part of her intestine was out of her body—it was like a giant hemhorroid. But then it went right back in.
I debated what to do, and ultimately decided to go into the ring and not jerk her around any more. I did that, it worked okay, and then we won. And all was well.
All was well until she came home with a sniffle and a cough. That in and of itself is not a huge deal, it’s like a person getting a cold. We watched her, and as the week went on it seemed to get a little better. I gave her some Vitamin B and extra enzymes, and she seemed to perk up. However, she had a cough. And the cough strained her bum, which caused her to prolapse even more. The deal I made with myself was that I could show her Saturday, but I could not practice leading with her for the whole week, and I would have to take my chances in the ring with a goat who had not been led in a week (and before that was obstinant).
By Thursday the prolapse was worse, and was not going in right away. I was really on the fence. I don’t think it was hurting her so that it would be cruel to take her, but that’s not something you want people to see in your goats. So I was racking my brain about the pros and cons. I put her up on the fitting stand, and it popped out again, worse than ever. I decided that I would not take her.
Thursday was also the day that Luna got bloat. I don’t know why, it’s usually from eating lots of grass or too much grain, and we are careful about the amount of grain and pasture they get. So we don’t know why, but she got it. And that involves force feeding her corn oil and baking soda and massaging her stomach until she burps and the giant kettle drum that is her stomach is smaller. I came out of that stall covered in oil and white powder, hair and smelling like a goat. Oh, and she hated me even more.
Not ten minutes later, Wolfgang jumped up on the gate and stuck his head between the bars on the gate, getting his head stuck. He would have suffocated had B not climbed over the stall, pushed his head forward and then, togtehr with me, turned it so he could get it out.
At that point, I just sat down on a bale and cried. This is not easy. It’s tons of hard work, tons of money, tons of worrying. And after you’ve invested all of that, there is still no guarantee. Other jobs are virtually guaranteed that if you do XYZ and you do it well, you will be successful. You can do your farming job well, follow the directions to a T, have spectacular animals, then get a disease off of a visitor’s shoe, and have your entire herd wiped out. It is overwhelming.
I am not quitting, though those words passed my lips on Thursday. It is just an immense responsibility, and I am such a perfectionist with myself, that nothing less than 100% is good enough. The problem here is that it is way out of my control—something that a control freak like myself finds it hard to handle. I mean, it’s healthy for me, and I need to keep doing this—and I want to keep doing this. But it’s very, very hard. So I just had a good cry, and threatened to quit.
The next day, I came home and was ready to load Wolfie up for the show. Wouldn’t you know that Aurora looked fantastic? I took her out—no prolapse. I bathed her—no prolapse, and then I decided to take her.
She did have a bit of a proplapse while we were there, but not while we showed. Come to find out, the “old timers” knew all about them, and said that it was because she was carrying extra weight, and that if we trimmed her down it would go away. They said it would not be a fault if it happened in the ring, and not to worry because it likely would not happen in the ring. It was happening in her pen on the rare occasion that she was headbutting her neighbors in the next pen.
So I took her out there, with me trembling the whole way. I was beside myself with fear and the anticipation of the crowd being mortified as my goat’s ass falls out in the ring. I was sick to my stomach, and my knees were probably visibly knocking.
The judge looked at Aurora a little longer as we walked around. I was thinking that she must have thought she was really pretty, as she was holding her head up and walking along very nicely. I knew her prolapse was not showing because she hadn’t coughed or yanked on the chain, etc. We stopped, and I posed her beautifully, and the judge came by to check the requisite disqualifying areas on a Boer goat: the tail, the teats and the teeth. The tail has to have dark pigment on the underside, as in the warm sunny climates they are prone to skin cancer. The teats have to be four or fewer, and can’t be fused, etc. The teeth have to line up with the top pad in their mouth.
She checked Aurora and moved along to the other goats in the class. Then she came back to check Aurora again. And asked me to look at her teeth—I was shocked to see that her top and bottom jaw did not meet! Now, I had checked her when we bought her, and I had checked her through the months we have had her on occasion. Never did I see such a gap. And she had been checked the week before at the previous show, without any problem! (and won grand champion)
I have no idea if it could change that suddenly, if the judge the week before just missed it, or what happened. But it was completely unexpected and mortifying. Aurora was disqualified, and I had to leave the ring and not be judged. I did find out who my friends are, as a group of them crowded around to ask what happened and to comfort me and give me advice. Bless them, it was much easier to be comforted by them then to walk to her pen alone and put her away with people staring at me from the bleachers. The judge was gracious and pleasant and absolutely right to do what she did. I am just mortified that I brought an animal that was incorrect according to the breed standard. What a newbie…
And so the prolapse was not even a concern, but something actually much worse was. I am second guessing myself up and down—and probably I will never know what happened.
Wolfgang went on to do quite well, he ended up taking second place in Fullblood Buck Kid 9-12 months. I was especially happy because he was the youngest buck in the class, yet he stood up to them just fine. The judge did give me some ideas on where he can improve, too, so we’ll get ready for the 2007 show season.
And so we packed our bongos and came home. It was exhausting just to show the two, I can’t imagine if I had 20 or 25 like some of the larger farms. That is a lot of entry money, but it’s all about advertising. However, I can’t fit them all in the dog carriers in the back of our car!
Speaking of showing them, and thinking about next year, there is a “herdsmanship” award. If you have ever been to a fair or a show and noticed the extensive stall decorations that some of the exhibitors bring—some bring tables with literature, business cards, signs, banners, some even have carpeting and plants! There is an actual award for the nicest “bank” of stalls and the best farm presentation. You are judged on your clean animals, whether they are well-cared for, if they have food and water, if you have signs, and coordinating buckets and business cards etc. I was a judge this time, given that I am a newly-elected board member of our state organization. It was quite eye-opening.
So we really have some work to do this winter if we are going to show in the spring!! Maybe I will look forward to a long winter, with lots of days so we can get a lot accomplished…
Last week at the show I did not blog the entire story. Mostly because I was a bit in denial, but some because I just didn’t want to think about it and hoped it would go away (isn’t that denial?).
When you practice leading a goat for a show, unless you’ve started with them from day one that they are a tiny bottle baby, they don’t like it. They pull and drag around until you get the hang of it. Most animals don’t take very long to get used to it, and don’t mind it at all.
Most.
Aurora was not in the category of “most.” She was in the category of, “I might have gotten the hang of it the last time we practiced, but this time I don’t like it, and I really don’t recall what we did last time anyway.” We struggled and pulled and dragged and coughed and sweated and didn’t get too far. She acted like this was something new every time we did it. We practiced every day for about 10 days. Some people start later than that. They say you don’t want them too docile or they start dozing or they just look too calm and without that wide-eyed spirited look. I am not sure who “they” are, though. And I’m not sure if I agree with “them.” But, my point is, 10 days in advance was not putting it off until the last minute, according to “them.”
So, during all of this struggling and wrassling, L said to me, “Ewww, what’s with her butt?” Okay, if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that poop and the poop area of the body is not something that is a tee-hee for us. It’s way beyond that. It’s about health, money, and work around here. So asking me about her butt was a very weird thing for him to do. I looked at her butt, and said that it looked fine to me, and that I was surprised that after all this time he thought goat poop was offensive. He just shrugged, and I didn’t think anything of it.
Fast forward to last week’s show. I already said that we struggled and dragged just before the show, and that I finally took her to the ring to wait because it was such a struggle to get her anywhere. Well, on the way, a boy was following behind and asked me what was wrong with her, and if it was a prolapse. Prolapse to me (until now) was defined as the uterus coming “inside out” during kidding. Well, Aurora is 5 months old, and is not even ready to be bred, let alone kidding and able to have a prolapse. So I just gave him a weird look, and then looked at her butt. Well, boy howdy was I in for a shock! Part of her intestine was out of her body—it was like a giant hemhorroid. But then it went right back in.
I debated what to do, and ultimately decided to go into the ring and not jerk her around any more. I did that, it worked okay, and then we won. And all was well.
All was well until she came home with a sniffle and a cough. That in and of itself is not a huge deal, it’s like a person getting a cold. We watched her, and as the week went on it seemed to get a little better. I gave her some Vitamin B and extra enzymes, and she seemed to perk up. However, she had a cough. And the cough strained her bum, which caused her to prolapse even more. The deal I made with myself was that I could show her Saturday, but I could not practice leading with her for the whole week, and I would have to take my chances in the ring with a goat who had not been led in a week (and before that was obstinant).
By Thursday the prolapse was worse, and was not going in right away. I was really on the fence. I don’t think it was hurting her so that it would be cruel to take her, but that’s not something you want people to see in your goats. So I was racking my brain about the pros and cons. I put her up on the fitting stand, and it popped out again, worse than ever. I decided that I would not take her.
Thursday was also the day that Luna got bloat. I don’t know why, it’s usually from eating lots of grass or too much grain, and we are careful about the amount of grain and pasture they get. So we don’t know why, but she got it. And that involves force feeding her corn oil and baking soda and massaging her stomach until she burps and the giant kettle drum that is her stomach is smaller. I came out of that stall covered in oil and white powder, hair and smelling like a goat. Oh, and she hated me even more.
Not ten minutes later, Wolfgang jumped up on the gate and stuck his head between the bars on the gate, getting his head stuck. He would have suffocated had B not climbed over the stall, pushed his head forward and then, togtehr with me, turned it so he could get it out.
At that point, I just sat down on a bale and cried. This is not easy. It’s tons of hard work, tons of money, tons of worrying. And after you’ve invested all of that, there is still no guarantee. Other jobs are virtually guaranteed that if you do XYZ and you do it well, you will be successful. You can do your farming job well, follow the directions to a T, have spectacular animals, then get a disease off of a visitor’s shoe, and have your entire herd wiped out. It is overwhelming.
I am not quitting, though those words passed my lips on Thursday. It is just an immense responsibility, and I am such a perfectionist with myself, that nothing less than 100% is good enough. The problem here is that it is way out of my control—something that a control freak like myself finds it hard to handle. I mean, it’s healthy for me, and I need to keep doing this—and I want to keep doing this. But it’s very, very hard. So I just had a good cry, and threatened to quit.
The next day, I came home and was ready to load Wolfie up for the show. Wouldn’t you know that Aurora looked fantastic? I took her out—no prolapse. I bathed her—no prolapse, and then I decided to take her.
She did have a bit of a proplapse while we were there, but not while we showed. Come to find out, the “old timers” knew all about them, and said that it was because she was carrying extra weight, and that if we trimmed her down it would go away. They said it would not be a fault if it happened in the ring, and not to worry because it likely would not happen in the ring. It was happening in her pen on the rare occasion that she was headbutting her neighbors in the next pen.
So I took her out there, with me trembling the whole way. I was beside myself with fear and the anticipation of the crowd being mortified as my goat’s ass falls out in the ring. I was sick to my stomach, and my knees were probably visibly knocking.
The judge looked at Aurora a little longer as we walked around. I was thinking that she must have thought she was really pretty, as she was holding her head up and walking along very nicely. I knew her prolapse was not showing because she hadn’t coughed or yanked on the chain, etc. We stopped, and I posed her beautifully, and the judge came by to check the requisite disqualifying areas on a Boer goat: the tail, the teats and the teeth. The tail has to have dark pigment on the underside, as in the warm sunny climates they are prone to skin cancer. The teats have to be four or fewer, and can’t be fused, etc. The teeth have to line up with the top pad in their mouth.
She checked Aurora and moved along to the other goats in the class. Then she came back to check Aurora again. And asked me to look at her teeth—I was shocked to see that her top and bottom jaw did not meet! Now, I had checked her when we bought her, and I had checked her through the months we have had her on occasion. Never did I see such a gap. And she had been checked the week before at the previous show, without any problem! (and won grand champion)
I have no idea if it could change that suddenly, if the judge the week before just missed it, or what happened. But it was completely unexpected and mortifying. Aurora was disqualified, and I had to leave the ring and not be judged. I did find out who my friends are, as a group of them crowded around to ask what happened and to comfort me and give me advice. Bless them, it was much easier to be comforted by them then to walk to her pen alone and put her away with people staring at me from the bleachers. The judge was gracious and pleasant and absolutely right to do what she did. I am just mortified that I brought an animal that was incorrect according to the breed standard. What a newbie…
And so the prolapse was not even a concern, but something actually much worse was. I am second guessing myself up and down—and probably I will never know what happened.
Wolfgang went on to do quite well, he ended up taking second place in Fullblood Buck Kid 9-12 months. I was especially happy because he was the youngest buck in the class, yet he stood up to them just fine. The judge did give me some ideas on where he can improve, too, so we’ll get ready for the 2007 show season.
And so we packed our bongos and came home. It was exhausting just to show the two, I can’t imagine if I had 20 or 25 like some of the larger farms. That is a lot of entry money, but it’s all about advertising. However, I can’t fit them all in the dog carriers in the back of our car!
Speaking of showing them, and thinking about next year, there is a “herdsmanship” award. If you have ever been to a fair or a show and noticed the extensive stall decorations that some of the exhibitors bring—some bring tables with literature, business cards, signs, banners, some even have carpeting and plants! There is an actual award for the nicest “bank” of stalls and the best farm presentation. You are judged on your clean animals, whether they are well-cared for, if they have food and water, if you have signs, and coordinating buckets and business cards etc. I was a judge this time, given that I am a newly-elected board member of our state organization. It was quite eye-opening.
So we really have some work to do this winter if we are going to show in the spring!! Maybe I will look forward to a long winter, with lots of days so we can get a lot accomplished…
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Politics
I used to be a competitive baton twirler in junior high and high school. I also dabbled in beauty pageants. Yeah, I know, hard for most people to believe, but it's true. I have the photos to prove it (those are for another day, however).
I think it was because I was such a tomboy when I was younger, I felt I had something to prove when I got a little older. I rememember having these huge scars on my knees from falling down and getting so many scabs as a young child. When I decided to try out for cheerleading, I actually shaved the scars off (no blood was involved, it wasn't gross! But it was damn desperate, don't you agree?). I was so embarassed about my tom-boy-ish-ness. Now I just don't care.
Okay, I was digressing, but you have to have expected that.
Having been involved in these things, I know that politics run rampant. Who do you know? Who should you not admit knowing? Who helped you get here?
So, when we talked about showing goats, the politics were the first thing that came up in discussion, other than the money. It was not like this was a surprise.
Of course, this being our first show, I guess I had hoped that it woudln't rear its ugly head until later in the process. Of course I couldnt' be so lucky!
I raved about this judge well before the show, you can read back in my posts that I give him a lot of credit and I have learned a lot from him outside of the show context. He is very humble and gives back a lot to the "goat community," especially the kids. He really wants the industry to succeed.
I thought he did an outstanding job judging, and not just because we did well. He took time to discuss the pros and cons of each goat, as well as general information. You couldn't really argue with him when he explained his reasons for ranking the goats as he did.
Or so I thought.
You know, there is always one in every crowd. There was a man who happened to have his pens just outside of our pens, with his table and marketing "booth" (illegal) set up as well. That was fine, not worth haggling over. After the show we had a pizza party, and he felt free to bash the judge because he was "only giving grand champion to folks with the last name of xxxx." He said that the judge contradicted himself many times, and that he wasn't the only one who thought so. He said that he brought the same doe last year, and the judge raved about her, but hated her this year (I believe he got a blue ribbon out of her this year, so I wasn't sure about the "hate" comment). He then moved into discussing the association of which I am a member (and I am on the ballot for board election-- the results remain to be seen). He bashed the current leadership, one of the folks happens to be our "mentors" who are partnering with on the does. I defended them the best I could without getting into a fight.
It really makes me mad when I deal with people like that. Who do they think they are, just spewing venom like I am going to agree with everything they say? I hate discussing politics of any sort. People just feel free to spew their opinons to us, and either they don't care what we think and hope we'll not respond (or change our minds to agree with them), or they want to fight. It always seems as though I am the one to smile and nod and try to be diplomatic. Why is it me who is always disengaging, and it seems like others always feel free to bash what I think?
Aside from that, he was trying to sell me any number of four wethers. What in the world do I need with a wether? Everyone needs that one, the one that just hangs around for whatever sentimental reason (ours is Ernie), but aside from that, to spend money on yet another one is just dumb. He then moved into saying that we couldn't take him home because he "seen that you brought them goats over in dog kennels." Um yeah, you "seen" it right, and if you are going to try and mock me about that, than you can f-off because I don't really care what you think about how I get my goats here.
Hell, if I rode them there, it wouldn't matter. They WON. And they beat yours.
It's not gloating, it's a fact.
I'm still sore that he discredited a great judge, because by slamming him, he slammed me indirectly-- it seems like the judge didn't know what he was talking about when he was judging my (or anyone's) animals.
The politics will be even heavier this weekend. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I think it was because I was such a tomboy when I was younger, I felt I had something to prove when I got a little older. I rememember having these huge scars on my knees from falling down and getting so many scabs as a young child. When I decided to try out for cheerleading, I actually shaved the scars off (no blood was involved, it wasn't gross! But it was damn desperate, don't you agree?). I was so embarassed about my tom-boy-ish-ness. Now I just don't care.
Okay, I was digressing, but you have to have expected that.
Having been involved in these things, I know that politics run rampant. Who do you know? Who should you not admit knowing? Who helped you get here?
So, when we talked about showing goats, the politics were the first thing that came up in discussion, other than the money. It was not like this was a surprise.
Of course, this being our first show, I guess I had hoped that it woudln't rear its ugly head until later in the process. Of course I couldnt' be so lucky!
I raved about this judge well before the show, you can read back in my posts that I give him a lot of credit and I have learned a lot from him outside of the show context. He is very humble and gives back a lot to the "goat community," especially the kids. He really wants the industry to succeed.
I thought he did an outstanding job judging, and not just because we did well. He took time to discuss the pros and cons of each goat, as well as general information. You couldn't really argue with him when he explained his reasons for ranking the goats as he did.
Or so I thought.
You know, there is always one in every crowd. There was a man who happened to have his pens just outside of our pens, with his table and marketing "booth" (illegal) set up as well. That was fine, not worth haggling over. After the show we had a pizza party, and he felt free to bash the judge because he was "only giving grand champion to folks with the last name of xxxx." He said that the judge contradicted himself many times, and that he wasn't the only one who thought so. He said that he brought the same doe last year, and the judge raved about her, but hated her this year (I believe he got a blue ribbon out of her this year, so I wasn't sure about the "hate" comment). He then moved into discussing the association of which I am a member (and I am on the ballot for board election-- the results remain to be seen). He bashed the current leadership, one of the folks happens to be our "mentors" who are partnering with on the does. I defended them the best I could without getting into a fight.
It really makes me mad when I deal with people like that. Who do they think they are, just spewing venom like I am going to agree with everything they say? I hate discussing politics of any sort. People just feel free to spew their opinons to us, and either they don't care what we think and hope we'll not respond (or change our minds to agree with them), or they want to fight. It always seems as though I am the one to smile and nod and try to be diplomatic. Why is it me who is always disengaging, and it seems like others always feel free to bash what I think?
Aside from that, he was trying to sell me any number of four wethers. What in the world do I need with a wether? Everyone needs that one, the one that just hangs around for whatever sentimental reason (ours is Ernie), but aside from that, to spend money on yet another one is just dumb. He then moved into saying that we couldn't take him home because he "seen that you brought them goats over in dog kennels." Um yeah, you "seen" it right, and if you are going to try and mock me about that, than you can f-off because I don't really care what you think about how I get my goats here.
Hell, if I rode them there, it wouldn't matter. They WON. And they beat yours.
It's not gloating, it's a fact.
I'm still sore that he discredited a great judge, because by slamming him, he slammed me indirectly-- it seems like the judge didn't know what he was talking about when he was judging my (or anyone's) animals.
The politics will be even heavier this weekend. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
SCORE!
This year, you may remember, I did not get L's forms turned in on time so he could show Cindi at our county fair. (We were sick that day-- though we could have turned it in earlier, and did not- nobody's fault but mine.) In any case, we went to the fair to see the show, to support his friends and to see what it would be like for him to show in future years. We were saddened to see that the judge was subpar, he was a dairy cattle judge, called in to judge animals he had no knowledge of. He didn't know the breeds, and especially disconcerting was that he docked the Boer goats for having four teats. The rules say that milk goats have 2 teats, meat goats can have four, but he did not know that.
However, while we were at the fair, I met up with an acquaintance who said that she was superintendant of her county fair's goat show, and that they were having a good judge. I know the judge, he is an excellent judge. He can judge dairy cattle, and goats, and has recently gone to school and been certified to judge meat goats. He was at the State Fair Show, and was assisting the judge there. He holds fitting and showing clinics for kids, and is just an amazing guy, who is really in this for bettering the industry.
In any case, I was excited to have our animals judged by him. I knew that if we got 3rd, we'd deserve 3rd, and we would get a lengthy explanation why, and how we could improve, if that was possible. I look at our goats and think they're beautiful, but how do you know until you put them against another animal before a judge?
So we entered my friend's county fair open show (where you don't have to be in 4H to show).
We went over on Thursday to take the goats, B and I. (L had football practice, so it was just the two of us.) I think we just must look so awkward driving up in our sports car and SUV. We have to take the sports car in addition to the SUV, because the dog kennels in which we haul the goats are the only thing that will fit into the SUV-- we need the sports scar to haul the hay, buckets and other supplies. So it's quite the production. Most people have their pickup trucks which pull their goat trailers. Not us, we look like Laurel and Hardy hauling goats. But we try to be quiet and discreet-- we don't want to make a big production of our comical comings and goings.
On Thursday night we noticed that many people there were bathing their goats, almost immediately upon arrival. Now L and I had bathed our goats earlier in the week. We bought the fitting stand last weekend, and spent the week clipping everyone and bathing them, and working with them to lead. So we felt like they were pretty clean, and we didn't bring our fitting stand, or think we should bathe them. I mean, we figured that all of that stuff should be done at home, ahead of time, when you're not pressed for time and really nervous. But what do we know, we had never done this before. So that fact kind of made us nervous.
That intensified on Friday. L had school, and the show began at 2:00. B and I took the day off, went over early in the morning and fed the girls, and then went and got some breakfast and some "show sheen." It's stuff you put on your animals to make their coats soft and shiny. The increased doting on the competitions' goats made us think we should be doing something constructive, so we spent $12 on a bottle of show sheen. What else could we do?? The girls were clean, chilling out in their stall, chewing their cuds, all was well. But everyone else was buzzing like bees in a hive. We picked L up at school at noon and headed over. 20 minutes before the show began, we were buying boots at a nearby fair stand, as L did not have properly fitting boots. Everyone else was scrubbing and clipping, and we felt inept and ill-prepared. Should we have brought the fitting stand? Should we haul them out to the washrack? We didn't want them to get a chill, and we have no blow dryer. The girls just lied there, hanging out, chewing their cuds like it was another day in paradise. Neither of us could think of anything we should have been doing, so we did nothing.
The show began, and we saw some amazing animals. We watched the 4H show closely, trying to see what the judge liked, and sizing up our competition (the 4H kids can also enter the open show).
Finally, at 5:00, the open show began. L was up relatively quickly, as dairy was first. Cindi led into the ring like a dream--- unlike all of the times we practiced. The judge LOVED her. The competition was not stiff in the ring for her, but the judge praised that goat up and down! He liked her straight back, her feminine appearance, her conditioning (I thought she was fat), her feet and legs (I thought they were bad), her udder attachment-- there was not a thing about her he did not like (apparently I know nothing!). In other classes he had awarded the blue to a less-than-perfect animal, but he was careful to note that "if he could change her, he would add this or subtract that." So he was not obligated to praise her up and down just because she was better than the competition in her class. So she took 1st place in the 12-24 months junior dairy doe class. Then it was back for the Grand Champion Dairy Doe run. There were 5 does in the run, all first place entries from their respective classes. He said that he rarely gives a dry doe preference over a milking doe. That would make sense, because you judge a dairy animal on its udder and ability to give milk and have babies. You can judge that on an animal who has done that already, but on a doe like Cindi, you can only project what she might do. But he gave Cindi the Grand Champion! He said that she was just the best doe there, and again, praised all of her physical attributes! L was STUNNED to say the least. Even in the first class, when he was up against only one other, he had no idea. I really suspected he'd get first, having seen the competition, but I am not the judge, so I didn't know for certain. L was stunned then, and really thrilled. But when he went back and got GC, he looked like the winner in a beauty contest. He said, "ME?" when the judge pointed at him, his jaw dropped, and he nearly forgot to shake the judge's hand. After everyone left the ring, he just stood there staring at his big purple ribbon and I had to call him out of the ring. I was proud, because he was really a humble winner (at first). I had to rein him in when he told his goat that they "beat the pants off" everyone there... but it was a good line anyway. : )
So then it was my turn. Aurora, true to her stubborn self, seemed to "forget" that we had practiced this leading business quite often in the past couple of weeks. We led (read: dragged) around the barn a bit, which did not go well, and by the time we finished, we were both exhausted. I was drenched in sweat, both from nerves and from exertion. I thought maybe I should take her into the show ring and have a seat just outside and wait for the show. That turned out to be the most sensible thing-- she was very calm, watching the other animals come and go. She actually relaxed and chewed her cud, just watching the other animals go by.
When it was my turn, I was disappointed that I was the only fullblood doe that entered in the show. However, I was happy to hear that the judge loved her. He actually said that he wished she had more competition, because she could have beaten it. He said that she had a lovely, straight back, a beautiful head and neck, very feminine, was very sound, tracked nicely as she walked, and was very three-dimensional for a doe her age (she's 5 months old). I was beaming like a proud parent! Again, he had not hesitated to award the blue to a less-than-perfect animal if they were still better than the others or the only animal in the class, but he always pointed out the areas that could be improved, or traits that made them less than perfect. So I know he was being straight. Again, when we went back into the ring for the Grand Champion run, we were the only ones, and easily awarded the ribbon. However, he said that he wished she had more competition, as she could definitely stand up to it.
Those comments and the judge's critical eye are what really made the experience. The ribbons are great for marketing-- my website already has up that we were champs at the fair. We tacked on a few dollars to the imaginary prices of our yet-to-be-born babies. So the ribbons and titles make some difference. But as I said, I trust this judge's critical eye, and I had seen earlier that he was fair and did not hesitate to point out both good and bad points in an animal, regardless of place (there were some third place animals that he praised, too, because they were worthy of praise-- it wasn't just the first places that were noted). I wanted him to look at our goats and tell us what he thought about their conformation, their character and their physical health. Of course, he told us exactly what we were hoping to hear, that we have beautiful animals, and that we're doing it right.
I am so proud of L, and I am so thankful for B. I should mention, that after all that hard work, B had to leave the show and take M to a birthday party on the other side of the metro. He was there with us all day, helping to prep, feed, and do the dirty work, but did not get to see either of us win. He was very bummed about that, and we were sad that he could not be there to win with us. So that was a low point. But he was glad to see the hardware we brought home.
So, we have another show next weekend. L will not show his dairy goat, it is a Boer Goat show, and it's an ABGA sanctioned show. In fact, the judge we had yesterday will be showing his own goats next weekend. The next judge is from Texas. This will be playing with the big boys, and we'll have to see if we have what it takes. I'll be showing Aurora and Wolfgang Buck (by the way, working with Wolfie is going very well, he is a big pussycat, but I'll write more about that later).
I'm glad we have this show to boost our confidence next weekend. We know we won't get laughed out of the ring!
Happy happy joy joy!
However, while we were at the fair, I met up with an acquaintance who said that she was superintendant of her county fair's goat show, and that they were having a good judge. I know the judge, he is an excellent judge. He can judge dairy cattle, and goats, and has recently gone to school and been certified to judge meat goats. He was at the State Fair Show, and was assisting the judge there. He holds fitting and showing clinics for kids, and is just an amazing guy, who is really in this for bettering the industry.
In any case, I was excited to have our animals judged by him. I knew that if we got 3rd, we'd deserve 3rd, and we would get a lengthy explanation why, and how we could improve, if that was possible. I look at our goats and think they're beautiful, but how do you know until you put them against another animal before a judge?
So we entered my friend's county fair open show (where you don't have to be in 4H to show).
We went over on Thursday to take the goats, B and I. (L had football practice, so it was just the two of us.) I think we just must look so awkward driving up in our sports car and SUV. We have to take the sports car in addition to the SUV, because the dog kennels in which we haul the goats are the only thing that will fit into the SUV-- we need the sports scar to haul the hay, buckets and other supplies. So it's quite the production. Most people have their pickup trucks which pull their goat trailers. Not us, we look like Laurel and Hardy hauling goats. But we try to be quiet and discreet-- we don't want to make a big production of our comical comings and goings.
On Thursday night we noticed that many people there were bathing their goats, almost immediately upon arrival. Now L and I had bathed our goats earlier in the week. We bought the fitting stand last weekend, and spent the week clipping everyone and bathing them, and working with them to lead. So we felt like they were pretty clean, and we didn't bring our fitting stand, or think we should bathe them. I mean, we figured that all of that stuff should be done at home, ahead of time, when you're not pressed for time and really nervous. But what do we know, we had never done this before. So that fact kind of made us nervous.
That intensified on Friday. L had school, and the show began at 2:00. B and I took the day off, went over early in the morning and fed the girls, and then went and got some breakfast and some "show sheen." It's stuff you put on your animals to make their coats soft and shiny. The increased doting on the competitions' goats made us think we should be doing something constructive, so we spent $12 on a bottle of show sheen. What else could we do?? The girls were clean, chilling out in their stall, chewing their cuds, all was well. But everyone else was buzzing like bees in a hive. We picked L up at school at noon and headed over. 20 minutes before the show began, we were buying boots at a nearby fair stand, as L did not have properly fitting boots. Everyone else was scrubbing and clipping, and we felt inept and ill-prepared. Should we have brought the fitting stand? Should we haul them out to the washrack? We didn't want them to get a chill, and we have no blow dryer. The girls just lied there, hanging out, chewing their cuds like it was another day in paradise. Neither of us could think of anything we should have been doing, so we did nothing.
The show began, and we saw some amazing animals. We watched the 4H show closely, trying to see what the judge liked, and sizing up our competition (the 4H kids can also enter the open show).
Finally, at 5:00, the open show began. L was up relatively quickly, as dairy was first. Cindi led into the ring like a dream--- unlike all of the times we practiced. The judge LOVED her. The competition was not stiff in the ring for her, but the judge praised that goat up and down! He liked her straight back, her feminine appearance, her conditioning (I thought she was fat), her feet and legs (I thought they were bad), her udder attachment-- there was not a thing about her he did not like (apparently I know nothing!). In other classes he had awarded the blue to a less-than-perfect animal, but he was careful to note that "if he could change her, he would add this or subtract that." So he was not obligated to praise her up and down just because she was better than the competition in her class. So she took 1st place in the 12-24 months junior dairy doe class. Then it was back for the Grand Champion Dairy Doe run. There were 5 does in the run, all first place entries from their respective classes. He said that he rarely gives a dry doe preference over a milking doe. That would make sense, because you judge a dairy animal on its udder and ability to give milk and have babies. You can judge that on an animal who has done that already, but on a doe like Cindi, you can only project what she might do. But he gave Cindi the Grand Champion! He said that she was just the best doe there, and again, praised all of her physical attributes! L was STUNNED to say the least. Even in the first class, when he was up against only one other, he had no idea. I really suspected he'd get first, having seen the competition, but I am not the judge, so I didn't know for certain. L was stunned then, and really thrilled. But when he went back and got GC, he looked like the winner in a beauty contest. He said, "ME?" when the judge pointed at him, his jaw dropped, and he nearly forgot to shake the judge's hand. After everyone left the ring, he just stood there staring at his big purple ribbon and I had to call him out of the ring. I was proud, because he was really a humble winner (at first). I had to rein him in when he told his goat that they "beat the pants off" everyone there... but it was a good line anyway. : )
So then it was my turn. Aurora, true to her stubborn self, seemed to "forget" that we had practiced this leading business quite often in the past couple of weeks. We led (read: dragged) around the barn a bit, which did not go well, and by the time we finished, we were both exhausted. I was drenched in sweat, both from nerves and from exertion. I thought maybe I should take her into the show ring and have a seat just outside and wait for the show. That turned out to be the most sensible thing-- she was very calm, watching the other animals come and go. She actually relaxed and chewed her cud, just watching the other animals go by.
When it was my turn, I was disappointed that I was the only fullblood doe that entered in the show. However, I was happy to hear that the judge loved her. He actually said that he wished she had more competition, because she could have beaten it. He said that she had a lovely, straight back, a beautiful head and neck, very feminine, was very sound, tracked nicely as she walked, and was very three-dimensional for a doe her age (she's 5 months old). I was beaming like a proud parent! Again, he had not hesitated to award the blue to a less-than-perfect animal if they were still better than the others or the only animal in the class, but he always pointed out the areas that could be improved, or traits that made them less than perfect. So I know he was being straight. Again, when we went back into the ring for the Grand Champion run, we were the only ones, and easily awarded the ribbon. However, he said that he wished she had more competition, as she could definitely stand up to it.
Those comments and the judge's critical eye are what really made the experience. The ribbons are great for marketing-- my website already has up that we were champs at the fair. We tacked on a few dollars to the imaginary prices of our yet-to-be-born babies. So the ribbons and titles make some difference. But as I said, I trust this judge's critical eye, and I had seen earlier that he was fair and did not hesitate to point out both good and bad points in an animal, regardless of place (there were some third place animals that he praised, too, because they were worthy of praise-- it wasn't just the first places that were noted). I wanted him to look at our goats and tell us what he thought about their conformation, their character and their physical health. Of course, he told us exactly what we were hoping to hear, that we have beautiful animals, and that we're doing it right.
I am so proud of L, and I am so thankful for B. I should mention, that after all that hard work, B had to leave the show and take M to a birthday party on the other side of the metro. He was there with us all day, helping to prep, feed, and do the dirty work, but did not get to see either of us win. He was very bummed about that, and we were sad that he could not be there to win with us. So that was a low point. But he was glad to see the hardware we brought home.
So, we have another show next weekend. L will not show his dairy goat, it is a Boer Goat show, and it's an ABGA sanctioned show. In fact, the judge we had yesterday will be showing his own goats next weekend. The next judge is from Texas. This will be playing with the big boys, and we'll have to see if we have what it takes. I'll be showing Aurora and Wolfgang Buck (by the way, working with Wolfie is going very well, he is a big pussycat, but I'll write more about that later).
I'm glad we have this show to boost our confidence next weekend. We know we won't get laughed out of the ring!
Happy happy joy joy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
