This appeared in the February 1998 issue of the GGG, along with comments on nationals from two other MDGA members.
Youth Activites at the National Show
Week in General
This year, I got to go to the ADGA National Show in Harrisburg, PA. I had a great time, and would like to say thanks to Peg & Dave Daubert for inviting me. The whole show was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I enjoyed getting to meet some of the ADGA staff, and other goat people, and just visiting with some of those wonderful goat people. On days we weren't showing, I would visit with people, look at the vendors' booths, watch the show, look at animals, sit down and write, or play with the goats. If you have a chance to get to Nationals next year (or any year), do!! Even if you can't take animals you can still learn by watching, and talking with other exhibitors.
Youth Activities
The first of the youth activities was showmanship. I was in the Intermediate II class and there were about 40 youth ages 14-16 in the class. It got rather long with that many people, but I learned how I can improve my showmanship skills. When you fit your goat for showmanship, make sure there aren't any long hairs on the feet, make sure you clip between the udder and legs and between the front legs and the body well, make sure the goats ears are clean and clipped and under the tail is clean. Out of the 40 or so youth in the class, they placed about 20 of them. The 20 or so that didn't place, were given reasons why they were not placed. Some of the reasons were turning your goat wrong, having a few long hairs somewhere, and not being clean enough here or there.
Next was the fitting contest. There were 22 teams entered, almost all of them had 4 people, but a few had 3 people. The fitting contest was a lot of fun. I learned I can't clip a goat quite as fast as I thought! There were 3 people on my team. One person held the goat, one of us clipped feet and legs, and the other clipped the body. While one person was clipping, the other would be cleaning the goat's feet, keeping the area clean, or something like that. I think we were the only team that didn't get our goat clipped, but we had lots of fun, and are definitely planning on doing it again next year.
I did not participate in the judging/management part of the youth activities, so I don't know what that's like. I really enjoyed the youth activities, and I think anyone that has a chance to, should try doing them.
Pam Peterson, Riverview Ranch, Cotton, Minnesota
Last updated August 24, 1999
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