First Show of 2011

We went to our first goat show of 2011 on Memorial Day weekend in Altamont, New York. It was a two ring show with a Junior/Senior doe combined show and a Junior doe show. It was the first time we had ever participated in a two ring show. At first we were a little confused, but we quickly figured it out and were very thankful we only had two breeds to show!

It was an interesting event for us. Ever since we have been showing goats we have heard the phrase, "Any goat, any day, any judge". This basically means that any goat can look particularly good on any given day, and that certain judges look for certain things. Some prefer good feet and legs, while others look for strong mammary systems. At this show we learned, "Any goat, same day, same judge." It was surprising, but not unexpected, to have one of our dry does place first in one ring, move to the next ring (with a different judge) and place dead last (in a class of 14 goats). Even more surprising, and truly unexpected, was when six hours later this same dry doe placed last with basically the same goats, with the same judge that had previously placed her first!

Unfortunately, this is Samantha's doe and she was rather frustrated and upset by the end of the day. She handled it very well, and managed to keep it together until she stepped out of the ring. This doe linear appraised very high, so we were able to encourage Samantha with that and she is now looking forward to the youth events at the ADGA Nationals with excitment.