Goats can be stubborn critters

BY KAYLA WILSON

DANVILLE June 27, 2008 09:48 am

— Goats are every bit as stubborn as people say. During Thursday’s 4-H goat show at the Vermilion County Fair, the animals bleated around the barn and in the ring as kids sometimes struggled to lead them.
One goat took two girls to wrangle it for judging. Other goats wore muzzles to make them easier to handle.
Dusty Hutson, 12, from Danville explained that goats are generally friendly and docile, until you want them to do something they don’t want to do.
“She doesn’t always like to walk where you want her to go,” he said of his La Mancha named Beauty.
Beauty is somewhat of a sympathy project, a goat his family purchased to prevent her from being butchered.
“She could hardly walk when we got her. She got trampled in the sale barn, and we had to carry her to the trailer,” said Dusty’s mother, Debbie.
At the time, Hutson didn’t know what a La Mancha was.
“When my mom said she got me a La Mancha, I didn’t know what she was talking about. I thought it was a bird or something,” he joked.
With Dusty’s help, Beauty has come a long way, however, earning first in her class and a blue ribbon to go with it.
Also taking part in Thursday’s show was Luke Humblet, 16, from Bismarck, who came with 19 goats, two assistants, and took home several blue ribbons and the prize for showmanship. This was his fourth year showing goats.
“It was my sister’s idea actually,” he explained. “She heard the market was good, so we got some, and we have had them ever since.”
He said that he does get attached to the goats, naming most of the does. “They can be like pets, but it is also just a hobby.”
One of Humblet’s assistants was Tyler Steinbaugh, 17, from Bismarck. Steinbaugh used to raise goats himself, but recently got out of it due to the expense. He also is active in 4-H, joining eight years ago.
“I started when I was little, and we would come around here,” he said, gesturing to the barn.
He started out with two goats and slowly built on that. One of these goats was a tiny French Alpine named Miss Piggy who the family treated the way other families might treat their pet cat.
“She lived in the bathtub for three months. We gave her run of the bathroom and when we were home, we would let her out,” he said.
This year Steinbaugh isn’t showing any livestock, but is participating in rocketry and visual arts, for which he made a quilt.
The goat show also drew an audience of fellow 4-H members with no goats of their own, members who were there to support their friends. One such audience member was Shelby Olson, 16, from Hoopeston, who had been showing cattle earlier in the day.
While Olson has little experience with goats, she is extremely knowledgeable about cows. She explained how to train cows, the importance of proper grooming and even the cattle pricing system. Extremely attached to her cows, she spends several hours a day taking care of the 15 cows in her family’s herd.
She also is a huge proponent of 4-H, an organization she has been involved with since the age of 8, following in the footsteps of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
“When people ask me about 4-H, they always think it has to be livestock, but it doesn’t. There is really something for everyone,” she said, before listing of a dozen disparate activities that have nothing to do with farming. “It is a good thing to be in. It helps me meet a lot of people.”
As an active member of 4-H, she knows all too well how hard all the kids work. An important way this work is rewarded is through the auction, which will take place at 6 p.m. Friday.
Everyone is welcome to come and bid and help the kids make back some of the money they have put into their projects.

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