I would have posted sooner, but I have been both busy and exhausted all weekend. I got up at 6 a.m. on Saturday. Check-in was supposed to be between 6-8, with the show starting at 9. Well, I happened to have a floral order for that day for a funeral, and I couldn't deliver it before 7. I had made it the day before, so I rushed about getting properly dressed for the show, digging out my dog chains, etc. I got the arrangement at the church at 15 minutes past 7 and rushed towards Grants Pass. I arrived about fifteen minutes past 8, worrying I was too late to check-in. The woman told me not to fret, that they were allowing check-in all the way up to 9. I wish I would have known that sooner, but was relieved at the same time. It was very laid back. I'm used to horse shows, which are a little more stressful. At a horse show, its gets very political, and people are all trying to look better or more professional than everyone else. You catch a lot of flack if you don't be pretty professional about how you do things, and that includes the judge's impressions of you.
I almost felt silly worrying about my clothes. You are supposed to wear all white, but I had to settle for clean blue jeans and a nice white shirt with a collar. I figured I had half of my attire correct. Only two competitors were wearing all white, and most of the people were showing in frumpy jackets and ragged jeans. About a third of the exhibitors hadn't clipped their animals. I immediately felt more relaxed. I quickly discovered my little buckling hadn't been clipped, or worked with as far as walking and posing goes. I think he would have done much better if he was clipped, so that the hairy ridge on his back, and the mass of fur between his rear legs didn't distort his build. Also, he was nearly the worst behaved at the show when we went into the class, hunching down into a ball most of the time despite my best efforts. Unfortunately, this makes it nearly impossible for a judge to see how his built. In the one class where he finally decided to relax a little and stood up well, he got a second place ribbon. He got fourth in the other two classes. I couldn't even get his legs out in those two. He insisted on shoving them as far up under himself as he could, and ducking his head down in his own personal imitation of a turtle.
-The ONLY class where he didn't try and curl up in a ball. I think he was trying to watch something the entire class. Ignore my big ole butt. -
In any case, I am going to take him to at least one more show this summer. More if I can find any reasonably close with buck classes. So far I've only found one, the rest are does only. I am also going to be taking Narf, Dakota, and Pearl to some shows. I don't know who will go to what. It all depends on when the give birth. I don't want to take a doe on the verge of kidding to a show, and I'm not sure on the exact due dates as the previous owner had them in with the buck for four months (apparently.)
Here are photos of Tomahawk, all clipped up and posed. His hocks do turn in somewhat when viewed from behind, and he could do with stronger rear pasterns, but I like his build overall, and his breeder claims that his sire's kids always gain more length of body as they mature.
His rump looks a little steeper in the second photo as his rear legs need to be set out further. However, I really love a super level rump, and feel like he could use a little work there. That being said, his dad's rump is the same and he got allot of compliments from the judges at the show regardless. They didn't seem to mind that his rump wasn't perfectly level. I have to rotate him between the dog kennel in the field (I have a huge kennel I use as a pen), and indoor pen in the barn until he gets older. He is still too small for the buck paddock. He just squeezes through the squares in the panels. Little turd. I am still hoping for a quality buckling from one of my new girls, so he'll have a constant companion. At least his two pens are right next to common hang out areas for the girls, so he is always surrounded by other goats, he just can't touch them.
Val has some icky diarrhea. I'm not sure what is going on. I treated her for Cocci, but that didn't seem to do anything. Its green, rather than blackish or bloody...so I'm thinking its not Cocci anyways. I wormed her again, just in case. I've also been giving her Probios to help her system. I'm going to try some Pepto-Bismol. I think it might seriously just be that her diet is too rich. She has access to lush spring grass AND alfalfa. The alfalfa is actually for my pregnant does, but the kids can get to it with some effort. I need to separate the pregnant goats while they eat so the others can't get any, and I shouldn't have that problem anymore. I'll simply finish the additional pen I am working on. Its in the planning stages, but once Mother's Day week is done I should have the time to build it.
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