When I was granted the honor of buying the lovely Cora Belle I made a promise that I would show her. I intend to keep that promise. So when a neighboring county was begging for goat entries to their fair I rose to the occasion. I sent in my entry. I entered Cora Belle in the Nigerian doeling class and Filbert in pack goat class. I wanted to bring Filbert because these two holler like nobodies business when separated and I figured he would look cute packing my sandwich around. A day or two goes by and I get an email that said, Sorry we only let people from our county enter. What! Then why were they begging for entries? Well they don't know what they will be missing. I had been practicing with my entries. Cora Belle for the show ring and Filbert for the pack goat class. Filbert was an expert at carrying my gloves around and was ready to progress to a real pack. I had led him up hill. I had led him down. We went over logs and down trails. He only collapsed the first day five times and then never after that. Cora Belle was leading like a princess. She would stop and allow me to place her legs just so, so the judge would be able to see her lovely dairy body. Want to see my udder-to-be? No problem, just let me squat a little and pretend you are milking me. No kicking and fussing for this beauty queen. But now we had nowhere to go to show off our talents.
Except over to the goatfarmer's Herron Hill Dairy, the place of their birth. You see the goatfarmer was dying to give Cora Belle one of those shave jobs that they give dairy goats to see their dairy outline. So off to the farm we went for a new hairdo, and Filbert came to try out a small pack that the goatfarmer had. I must say I was very proud of these two. They were very well behaved and had a wonderful time exploring the barnyard and meeting up with their sister Boxcar Betty.
Cora Belle stood very still for her chop job, er...I mean hairdo. I am sure in 2 weeks she will be gorgeous.
And Filbert took to the pack like a pro.......
Cora Belle and Betty got to break bread together.........
A good time was had by all!
13 comments:
Hi, Goatgirl-
Thanks so much for leaving the nice note on my blog. I keep seeing your name on some of the blogs we read in common, and it's great to finally visit yours. Love the black and white theme of your very beautiful extended family--we'll be back often!
K&A
Your goats are very cute. That Cora Belle is a real beauty. What a striking pretty black and white. Too bad for the show ring....Their loss.
I love the goat backpack!! That would be great for a picknick - let them eat the weeds as you eat they food they have carried! Works for me! :)
Two extremely attractive and well-mannered kids. A credit to their species. Or any species. Except for the part where they stole Betty's lunch.
Yah, sorry about that goatfarmer but what do you expect from a goat.
You are right, the neighboring fair don't know what they are missing. Cora Bell and Filbert look just lovely and handsome.
I like the shaving platform,it looks neat. I'll have to show that to farm man, we need one of those.
Thanks for the advice on petting the young goats. I am anxious to look it up and try(if I ever get through with this garden)
Have a great week!
Love the goat pictures and the goat pack is a hoot!
What fun!
Cora Bell leaned up very nicely. As you know I was Ring Steward for my local Nigerian Goat Show club and was exposed to many many goats and got a first hand look and tutorial on the proper conformation for a Nigerian Dairy Goat.
Although I can't see her rear, her estuchian and the udder area, her topline, legs, neck and head are pretty near perfect and very dairy.
She also looks feminie which is something judges seem to like.
If you do show her you'll want to shave her tail all the way up to the tip and just allow a bottle brush at the end, cut bluntly.
Do you have your own milking stand?
I feel very lucky that I was given one through Freecycle. I use it for giving vaccines, trimming hair, hoof trims, shearing our angora goats...and one day for milking our mini-mancha.
If you have goats, a milking stand is invaluable to have. There are many tutorials and plans online (check Fias co Farms site) to build your own, too.
Oh. And I wonder if that pack is meant for larger goats? It looks huge on Filbert. He wears it well, though. I want to get one for our big boy Boer wether to take him hiking with us, but he's so slow, I think he'd slow us down. haha!
We are planning on taking our llamas out packing soon. I'll be sure to post about it when it happens. Can't wait!
kathryn and ari, thanks for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment. Hope you come back again. As you can see we LOVE our dogs.
shanda, thanks about the comments on Cora Belle. She is a sweetheart. I have enjoyed your postings on your local fair and farmers market.
Hi Heidi, I think the trouble is that the goat would want a bite of my sandwich. They go crazy when foods involved.
gafarmwoman, I know that your hubby will have one of those stands built in nothing flat. After the waterwheel, what's a little ole goat stand?
countrygirl, yep the pack is much to big for Filbert but he is sure to grow. That one was the goatfarmer's but I will have to order one for him, with a matching lead rope, and a matching collar, don't you think?
Twinville, Yep Cora Belle is really put together nice. I should post some pictures of her back side. It is to die for. Goat conformation speaking. I am going to take her to our state fair in Sept. so the haircut was just to get her used to having it done while she was young. We will clean her up better for the show ring. I used to show goats as a kid.
Yes, the pack is too big, right now, for Filbert but he will grow so he has room to grow into it. I couldn't believe that he took to it so easy.
And I did have a milking stand for years. It was the one my dad made me when I was a kid. It finally fell apart after almost 40 years so I am on the lookout for a new one. I don't have a milker now so have managed to get by without one.
Hope to come across one soon.
It should be fun packing with your llamas. Fun for the kids.
Oy. I hope the goatmother doesn't get any ideas. I'm very partial to my hair. Tell the goatfarmer that Peanut says Betty doesn't need lunch anyway. I'm sure Cora Belle needs it more...so she can grow hair.
Marigold, I'll tell the goatfarmer but she's pretty partial to Betty.
Nice looking goats, we raise Mini-Nubians!
Thanks Amy, I'll take a trip over to your place.
My friend Marigold is a Mini Nubie.
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