I dont know how to begin this post tonight. Honestly. Ive been home for a while now trying to think of the most accurate words to describe the past two days and I keep drawing a blank, so if this post gets a bit rabbit trailed or teary eyed please forgive me. Several years ago when I was blessed with my first goats I had no idea where that would take me. None. Those two goats wouldnt stay behind fences and the owner (my sister) thought they may be happier in a different location. The female (Strawberry) was not registered, had never been in milk or shown and I had no idea which farm she came from. Not that any of that mattered at the time or even now. I have always considered her and her first daughter Katie my scrappy backyard goats they knew how to make milk and thats what I wanted from the. My kids wanted to show goats in 4-H and had been told be a few breeders I respect to get them NOAd which means registered with ADGA as Native (to the breed) On Appearance. With the help of a woman who has a wonderful herd I was able to do just that. I have only just begin learning about proper confirmation and its importance to the productivity and longevity of the goat in the past couple years so in the show ring Im still wet behind the ears. Im a competitive person, probably too competitive, but I am what I am. And when I say I like to compete I dont just mean beating the average competition, I want to beat the best. It doesnt have to be this year but by the end of my showing career I want to beat the best. Nubians are considered a hard class to enter into because they are so popular, there are so many and the folks who have top animals have been at this breeding/showing thing for 20-30 or so years. Which brings me to this weekend. 4-H shows dont have as many goats to compete against but its still competitive just not for me. I LOVE seeing the confidence showing difficult animals has brought my daughter and the focus my son has gained while showing. I also love that my scrappy backyard goats did so well at the 4-H shows this summer. I wondered how well theyd do against the big guns so I hemmed and hawed and hemmed and hawed some more then threw my hat into the ring for the open show. I almost pulled out of the show because I knew I had no chance of beating the big guns but stuck it out knowing that if I ended up at the bottom Id be ok with that because there would be room to improve and I would like to hear what an ADGA judge would say about my girls. Then I decided that no matter what the judge(s) thought it wouldnt matter because I love my girls and to my they are and always will be my favorites in the show ring or in my world.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:03:03 +0000