LegatoGelato
Smooth
Taste…Island Pace
Show Season
July
31, 2012 – almost the end of July and August heralds the frantic show season.
On Vancouver Island there are summer fairs held in different communities every
weekend from the beginning of August to the middle of Sept. In previous years’
I have shown the goats at 5 and 6 fairs, which basically is every weekend for 6
weeks.
This year will be different. I have
decided to limit my showing to just 3 shows. The first is already over – South
Island Buck and Doe show in Victoria. The other two will be the Vancouver
Island Exhibition in Nanaimo on August 16,17,18, & 19th and then
the Alberni Fall Fair, in Port Alberni on Sept 5th, 6th,
7th & 8th. Both are official shows sanctioned by the
Canadian Goat Society, so the results count toward official results.
I love going to shows but I admit I
don’t love the work involved with getting everything ready. You can’t just grab
the goat out of your barn, pop her into the back of the truck and head out for
the show. That would be great but it’s not how it works.
To show at a Canadian Goat Society
(CGS) sanctioned show, a doe or buck must be registered with them. To register
a baby goat you tattoo them, then send in paperwork and some money. Tattooing
is not very pleasant for the babies. We give them the herbal bach flower
tincture called Resuce Remedy. Great stuff – for us and for the goats, seems to
work very well at reducing stress.
The
tattoos are the goat’s permanent ID and generally last their whole lives. If
the goat wins a Best in Show, Grand Champion or Reserve Champion placement, the
judge will read the tattoos to make sure it is the correct goat.
Goats get bathed and clipped before
the show. FYI - they don’t like water
and don’t like to get wet, so that part isn’t very fun. Once toweled dry, the
goats get clipped. I use three different sized clippers depending on which part
of the body is clipped, it takes about 45 minutes for each goat. Their hooves
need to be trimmed as well, this can take a few sessions to get them just
perfect and like a dog, they have a “quick” in their hooves, so I have to take
care and not injure it.
A couple days before the show I bath
them again, finish trimming off any stray hairs and make sure their udders are
shaved clean of any hair/fur. The day of the show they will get a wipe down
with a damp cloth, feet cleaned, face wiped and they are ready to go.
As a handler going into the ring I
have to be dressed in white – white pants/shorts and white shirt. You can
imagine how long everything stays white when handling animals.
The judging score card is bases on
confirmation – it’s all about the correct structure that will put the most milk
in the pail. Judges do like different styles and they all have their own
opinions but it’s still fun for the most part.
Most of our goat shows happen in
conjunction with fall fairs. We stay for the whole weekend and generally camp –
I have a camper now, the kind that goes on the back of my truck and I just love
it. After sleeping in a tent for years, the camper is luxury! Nice bed, place
to keep everything, place to cook, door to lock and I can stand up to change.
Bedding is provided for the goats pens
but we have to bring everything else; hay, feed, buckets, milking stand, chairs,
registration papers and whatever else we think we will need & I bring lots.
The fairs want decorations and displays as well. And it is a great opportunity
to advertise as well. So the amount of stuff to bring along to the show gets
bigger and bigger. Glad I have a camper to carry it all in J
I’ll
let you know the results from the shows later in August and Sept.
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