COLUMBIANA CO. FAIR Cool weather makes for troublesome wethers

For two New Waterford sisters, caring for goats means getting up early.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A cool, sunny day meant relief from recent heat and humidity at the Columbiana County Fair, but it also made livestock more active.
When Kinsey Douglass, 12, and her sister, Megan, 9, of New Waterford took their pygmy goats to the show ring for junior showmanship, they knew what they had to do.
During the project year, they sandwiched feeding and working with their goats in between their school work and other responsibilities. They led their goats and practiced making them stand the way a judge would want.
For the two New Waterford sisters, caring for goats means getting up early, both during the fair and at home.
On competition morning, they both were up before 6 a.m. They bathed and brushed their goats and trimmed their tails and their hooves to meet show ring requirements. When it came time to enter the show ring, however, their goats had other ideas.
Acting up
Kinsey and Megan said they had fun with the junior showmanship competition, but neither placed in the top five in their class. They walked their goats around the ring, keeping their eyes on the judges.
The goats were feeling frisky in the cool weather, however, and Kinsey's and Megan's goats weren't the only ones who seemed to want to do the opposite of what their young charges asked. The goats pulled in the other direction or planted their feet firmly and wouldn't budge when they were supposed to walk around the ring. Some even dropped to their knees and pulled backward against their lead rope.
After selecting the winners, the judge came over and talked to Megan, Kinsey and other participants who didn't place.
"She just told us that it's really hard to set the goats up when they aren't walking good," Kinsey said.
"She said she picked the other kids because their goats were walking good."
Showmanship is based on the knowledge of the animal handler and how the handler controls the animal and responds to the judge's commands.
Judges quiz the participants on the different parts of the goat's body, for example. Judges expect participants to watch the judge all the time, even if the judge isn't looking at them, Kinsey said.
"The judge wants to be able to see your goat all the time, so that's why we have to keep moving around," Kinsey said.
Loving the experience
This year is the sisters' third year showing goats at the fair. Three years ago, Kinsey's first year in the ring, she showed the grand champion pygmy. Even with her past experience, however, Kinsey said being in the show ring is always a little scary.
"I was in there, and my knees were shaking," she said. After the competition, Kinsey gave Megan some advice about handling her goat. Straddling a goat like you're going to ride it isn't a good idea, she said.
Megan insisted that was a good way to control her goat.
"She'll knock you off if you do that," Kinsey advised.
Junior showmanship was the first event of the day for the girls. Later in the day, they fared better. Kinsey won senior reserve champion wether, which is a type of goat, and second place in the category of wethers 1 year to younger than 3 years, both in the junior fair competition.
In open classes, she won senior reserve champion wether and second place in the class of wethers 1 year old to younger 3 years old.
Megan won second place in open class competition for her goat in a class of does 2 years old to younger than 3. Why do the girls go to all the trouble to feed, train and work with pygmy goats, which are mostly family pets? "They're fun!" Megan concluded.