Goat Gossip

Whirlwind month finally winding down!

Man oh man! July has really been a busy month for Gwen, the War Wagon, and I!

No sooner do we get the Dodge unloaded, we reload and take off again for parts that are known. The only folks who have logged more miles than us are the longhaul truck drivers and Fred Homeyer!

Speaking of Mr. Homeyer, I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance at the International Boer Goat Assn. National Show in beautiful Duncan, OK. I have been to Duncan twice now and find it to be an attractive and clean city with wonderful show facilities. Gwen and I arrived in the WW on Thursday evening and checked in at the Courtyard. A really nice, new Hotel and went on to the Fair Grounds.

We met Dawn Steward there of Flying S Boer Goats (www.flyingsboergoats.com) Who Gwen had met at the Goldthwaite show, but whom I had never met. She is a fellow Yahoo Goat Gossip Groupie who shows a really fine string of goats at every show that she can make. And her goats have the points to prove it! We had a chance to be introduced to her fine fitter and showman Dakota Ash, whom I had a chance to play a little joke on by going into the barn before Gwen and Dawn and while he was grooming a goat ask him if “that was one of them there Kiko goats?” Of course he looked at me like the dumb yokel that I appeared to be and very politely responded that “no Sir, this is a BOER goat!”

Everyone was fitting and washing and other cleaning chores to beat the band! Dawn introduced Gwen and me to Darrell Mueggenborg of 4-M Farms (www.4mfarms.net) in Yale, OK. Darrell was nice enough to show us all of his goats.

After a pleasant nights sleep we went to the Fair Grounds and put in a full day of viewing goats, meeting folks, and taking in all of the festivities that took place on Friday. Gwen and I had a chance to meet fellow goat columnist Fred Homeyer (www.antelopecreek. com), whom I greatly admire, and talk to him about goats and goat ranching at great lengths.

I finally had the opportunity to meet Goat Rancher Editor Terry Hankins! I was genuinely pleased to finally have met Terry and chat with him about the magazine and the meat goat industry.

Gwen and I had a great time, picked up our mineral feeders from Sydell and scooted on back down to the Promised Land. We would like to thank the IBGA for the wonderful show, all of the exhibitors for their support both monetarily and by placing their animals out there for folks to see in all their finery, and all the vendors who brought their wares and supported the association. Gwen and I are personally pleased with the good job that Mr. Ernie Haire and the Board of Directors and my fellow members are doing to get the IBGA back on an even keel.

We continued our whirlwind tour the next day by leaping out of the bed like Mighty Mouses and drove on over to Henderson, TX for the goat program put on by the Agrilife extension offices of Cherokee, Nacogdoches, and Rusk Cos. Along with my fellow members of the ETGRA, Rene McCracken, Crispin Skinner, and Blaine Jernigan put on a very informative seminar that was well attended. Dr. Barbara Johnson, DVM of Prairie View A&M and Vanessa Corriher, Extension Forage Specialist at Texas A&M- Overton held instructions on animal health and goat forages.

The next stop on the tour took me (Gwen stayed home cuz of employment obligations) to Great Entertainment Farms (www.gefboergoats. com) in Douglass, TX, the Home of Jerry & Diana Payne. This was the place where they hosted an instructional program on small farms and how to make them profitable. Chad Gully of Nacogdoches Co. and Cary Sims of Angelina Co. gave some fine instruction, and I brought the donuts, so a good time was had by all. Thanks to Jerry & Diana for hosting and Chad and Cary for putting it all together and making it happen.

Hopefully we can stop for a rest after this weekend. Gwen is showing a doeling at the NETGRA Summer Sizzlin’ Boer Goat Show in Greenville. But we are also pulling kids and weaning so the fun never stops!

The next FCGBA meeting will be on August 11th at 7 p.m. at the Freestone Co. Courthouse in downtown Fairfield Right on US 84. Our Fall Production Sale is September 26th and Gwen needs folks to have joined or turned in their sale info by the meeting .

Well, that’s all I have for now. We are going to have a noisy weekend cuz all of the kids and nannies will be crying and pining for each other. But they will endure! Give me a call at 903-388-8528 or e-mail clwyer@gmail.com if you have any good gossip.