Preparing for the first show of the season.

Emerald and her doe kid Ella (entered)

Good morning world! It's 7.41am here in New Zealand and I'm in bed writing this entry. I've already unloaded the dishwasher, put a washload in and made Michael some rolls for lunch. I'm now mulling over what I need to do today, I've got to get organised for the first A&P show of the season. A&P stands for Agricultural and Pastoral and the first show for us is Waikatos World, it's our local show and so if we don't make any others we at least aim to do this one.
We shall be entering our goats into the Boer Goat section Click here for the schedule.
As always we have to decide a couple of weeks before the show date who we want to show, so much can happen between the entry closing date and the show itself. I dread bad weather, especially rain, rain means mud and mud means sore feet and sore feet means limping. You don't want to put a limping goat in a show ring, it's not a good look. We have already trimmed feet, tidied up the fur around their tails and bottom to emphasise the rump. Tonight we will see who needs a wash, but final titivating will be at the show. To me they are all beautiful but I am biased. I'll put some photos within this entry and come back and add one of Dutch the Buck later.
Last year was not a good year for us, a drought followed by more rain than I've ever seen in my life, and we weren't here for a month of it, we were in the UK. We got back to floods and dead, sick and dying goats. Some of them hadn't been to well before we went, we hadn't anticipated the weather while we were away and the house sitters could only do so much. Goats like sheep look for inventive ways of dying sometimes, they can seem fine one day then sick the next. Unless you spot it early enough they go down hill rapidly and they die.

Brea and her does twins, Echo & Emily, not entered but will take to the show

This year though they are looking so much better, the pasture quality is improving with fertilising and seeding and that is so important. For those that think goats can live on anything are wrong, they are good browsers and are great at clearing weeds yes, but their nutritional requirements are quite specific. Hopefully now that we have addressed that we will see improvement from now on.
This years kids are doing really well, and I hope I do well with them at the show, one doe I think is a great example of the breeding standards, but we will see.

Amber and her doe kid Ember(entered)

This year is a special year for the Waikato Boer group, it is the 10th anniversary of their association with Waikatos World. We are lucky enough to have Theuns Botha as our judge this year, he is from South Africa and apparently played a part in the establishment of Boer Goats in New Zealand. He is also a major influence within the SA Boer Goat Breeders Association in the set up and running of their judging system. So he has very impressive credentials and it will be interesting to see how he feels about our NZ Boer Goats. Whatever the outcome tomorrow, Saturday, I shall be bringing home the winners, I love them regardless.

Sapphire and her doe kid Eve(Entered and my biggest hopeful)

Wish us luck!