Topsfield Fair

I missed the Topsfield Fair this year as I was promoting 4-H in Waterbury. Sam took Abby, Hannah, and Samantha up with the animals for the weekend. He gave Hannah and Abby the camera. I make no claims on the photos....

Abby with Raclette, Hannah with Venezuela, Samantha with DollyMadison

Samantha as "Milk" and Jessie as "Honey" in the costume class

I have no idea WHAT they were doing!

Reviewing the judging competition scores: Samantha placed first in Juniors.

This creepy thing was parked next to the camper.

Day Two: the girls help others show their goats in the Open Show

It was cold, so jeans under the skirts and sweaters!

Barcelona

Ledyard Fair

This weekend we were at the Ledyard fair. Sam and I superintend the goat show there and we add some fun stuff for the goats to do over the weekend.

Friday night we hold our Goat Obstacle Course. This year we had the added benefit of using Nathalie's dog agility equipment. We used the existing mud puddles as obstacles, added a tarp and a bowl of grain, to make it interesting.

Saturday was our goat show which included an Over the Hill Showmanship class. We had so much fun !

Making Lists and Checking Them Twice

The American Dairy Goat Association's national show is in just a few days!

There are several lists currently swirling around our home. Nathalie has her menu list and corresponding grocery list. She's found some new recipes she wants to try out: 4-H Pizza Burgers and a Cheeseburger pie.

Abby has her list for which goats have been clipped and which ones need feet trimmed. She also has her tack box list and vet bag list.

Hannah has the "What needs to get put in the camper" list. It's pretty extensive since we'll be gone for more than just a weekend. That list also includes things like animal feed, farm signs, and animal paperwork.

I finished the "Animal Care" list and emailed it out to all of the families who will be taking over the chores here. There is also the "Show clothes" check-off chart and "Show box" check-off sheet.

Then there is the list of stuff that needs to be done the day we leave, since we'll have house guests while we are away.

Another list is the list of books, etc. that the girls will need to bring to continue doing their schoolwork. The show is 7 days long, but we aren't showing for a lot of it. So, I scheduled some light days of school to keep them occupied.

There is the list of books on CD that they want me to get from the library for them. We'll also be bringing the DVD player and teeny-tiny television, so there will also be some movie nights. Which reminds me, I need to tell Nathalie to add "popcorn" to her grocery list....

North Stonington Fair

The North Stonington Fair was once again, a lot of fun! We had 88 goats and 22 exhibitors! The girls all did very well in their showmanship classes. We made some changes in how we superintend and I think the show ran much more smoothly than in the past. There will be more changes for next year, and hopefully this will make the fair even better!

It isn't easy to take photos and run the show, so there aren't too many from the day.

Check-in

Abby and Paladium

Hannah and Venezuela

Abby and Paladium

Rachel and BettyFord with Dixie and Liesl

Johnson's getting ready

Samantha fitting DollyMadison

Hannah and Venezuela

Rachel and BettyFord

Samantha and DollyMadison with Sarah (the Judge)

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.

Whirlwind Week

Samantha with Dolly Madison; Me with Betty Ford

Samantha and Dolly Madison

Samantha in second place with Dolly Madison

Samantha with Dolly Madison in Best of Breed

Samantha and Dolly

Hannah with Venezuela

Abby showing a Nubian

Abby and Moeeka

Abby with Kroquet, me with Octavia, Wes Brown with Orchid

Abby with Fluorine

Abby and Dunkin Doenuts

Abby with Abigail Adams, Kim Buddington with Ladybird

I had an amazing trip to the National 4-H Dairy Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. I couldn't pack my camera, so I have no pictures from the trip. It was a very interesting trip and while not much of what I saw can translate into goats, it did give me an opportunity to see large scale dairy farming in action.

After we landed in Hartford on Thursday, Sam picked me up and we headed home to load animals and children to head up to the Big E.

Hannah and Abigail were showing goats and Nathalie was showing her dog. All of them did very well in their in showmanship classes. Nathalie's Pippi did very well and was able to behave for most of the show. Pippi also flew through the agility course and Nat is excited to work with her in earnest for next year's agility competition.

Abby did well in her competitions but was having an off-day and didn't place in either of her competitions. She did learn that if she skips meals she doesn't feel well and it effects her ability to perform well.

Hannah placed second in her showmanship class and third in her fitting class. Her doe took Alpine Reserve Grand Champion.

Sunday was the ADGA open show. We were thrilled that with some strong competition our does still placed in the upper third of the classes for the most part. The judge's comments about the strengths of our goats showed that all of our does are demonstrating improvements over their dams. We are excited for the new kids we are expecting in February and definitely looking forward to the ADGA Nationals next July.