8/15 – Still so HOT here in Oregon! Really puts a crimp into my outdoor plans or recreation time. Not use to the 100+ degree weather or the Humidity!
I decided to enter a couple of my Does in the Oregon State Fair this year. I entered 3, then found out that we needed 8 does to sanction for MDGA. I entered 2 junior Doelings, but found out we still needed more Does in Milk for the Senior Doe classes. So I entered my new FF Soaring Hearts Sienna Princess and added one more dry Doe, Pilchuck Pointe Pixie Dust just for good measure. So I’m taking 7 to show with 3 in Milk!
On my West Coast Mini Nubian Facebook group, I appealed to other Breeders to enter their Does, Doelings and dry yearlings. And Bless them quite a few, many Newbies to the breed, stepped up!! I can’t express how pleased and Proud I am of them!! Huge Thank You to them for making the State Fair a Sanctioned Show! This means our hard work, Time and Commitment will pay off as we have the opportunity to obtain a Leg towards a Championship. It takes 3 Legs to get a Finished Champion and one of those Legs can be what they call a dry leg. Dry as in no milk, Dry Yearling, Junior, Intermediate or Senior Doeling (born and shown in the same year they were born).
You have no idea what showing goats at a live show involves, unless you have been there and done that before, which I have not! From what I have been reading and what I’m hearing from old hands at this, I’m going to be bringing half of my barn and then some! The goats need bedding, clothes to keep them clean, (YES! Clothes!) Milking equipment, muck buckets, Feed and water buckets. Medication in case they don’t feel good, Fans for me, Fans for them. Tarps, to put up between pens, in case a neighboring goat herd hasn’t had their COVID 19 Jab or have some other type of Biological issue. (Live shows are notorious for goats to pick up some type of respiratory bug. Goats don’t do masks!) Feed, ( I guess they do need to eat and drink,) But seriously, I have to bring my own water from home??? Apparently they may not like City water, with all that chlorine, and you need to keep them hydrated least they drop milk production due to dehydration, which in turn causes their udder to deflate, defeating the purpose for which you are there in the first place, because NO One really does all this Work in the HEAT JUST for FUN!! And then there are “Pen Decorations”, because the smell alone is not decorative enough, so we try to make it more pleasant for the Fair goers to have brightly colored, shiny, lighted decorations to lead their attention away from the goats trying to eat their cotton candy, chocolate nut covered banana or their purse and of course the Pee smell. I won’t even go there! Thank God Bucks are not allowed at the Fair, CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THE HORROR!!!! A Buck in Full Rut, Peeing on his face and anything else in its path, rolling and waggling his tongue out, kicking his foot out in his displeasure that you are NOT responding to his Charm and making disgusting noises! 🤢🤢🤮. P.S. : I’m hoping to win a Leg 🤩!
Call me Crazy!!! I’m pretty sure I am, and For the record, technically, I too am a Newbie! I have never done a live goat show before! So, come on up and watch us on Monday September 6th, it should be very entertaining lol!
8/1 – Our trip to pickup our new goats from Soaring Hearts Farm in Snohomish, WA went smoothly. We left at 2:00 am and arrived around 7:30 am. We loaded the goats and headed back to Oregon. Not a whole lot to say about the trip up and back except that it was a long day!
Mini Love Farm 