Milk Maid

Last week was very busy and to add to the normal chaos, we were a little short handed on the farm!

Why were we a little short staffed you may ask?

Well, my brothers Grady and Garrett decided to take a week long vacation to the exotic land of cheese...more specifically they were in Madison, Wisconsin.

They were showing in the National Dairy Goat Show which was held in Wisconsin this year.

They left at midnight on the 7th and returned at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. They drove through the night so the weather would be cooler for the goats to travel in.

They had a fantastic show and had a lot of fun too! Grady and Garrett were members of the winning fitting contest team where they each brought home a new chair and cash prize. Their teammates were from South Dakota and Kansas. My mom livestreamed the whole show! They had many first and second place class winnings in the Saanen, Alpine, Toggenburg and LaMancha goat classes.

In their respective showmanship classes, Garrett placed 9th and Grady 14th. Not too shabby for having nearly 50 of the nation’s best showmen in each of their classes.

Garrett was also named Premier Alpine and Premier Saanen Youth Exhibitor, which means he had the best overall placings in those breed classes. It’s a great honor and we are so proud of him! What was their favorite part about nationals?

The goats?

Yes and no.

Wisconsin was also holding several state dairy cattle shows at the same site and they were able to watch some of the best cows in North America compete too.

I am a little jealous? You bet.

But I am so proud of them! And, I’m glad they are home so they can do their own chores.