This photo was from several years ago, when the first baby pygmy goats were born here at Patriot's Dream. The photo made a comeback this year as the personalized note to go in Bailey's thank you gift at auction. That huge smile that went all the way to her eyes was gone for a little while, but some truly special people encouraged Bailey to keep in 4-H, and the love of the animals and acceptance of friends, as well as them steering me through homeschooling for the first time and much more led to the photo below, from last Sunday. The smile is, slowly but surely, coming back.
Bailey made some tough but sound decisions for her pygmy goat herd this last week. She was fortunate enough to get excellent feedback from the pygmy goat judge in making them, and I will get to more on those later. But the photo above is of Bailey and Rose right before the charity auction. She chose to let Rose go into the auction this year, and the person who purchased her donated her back to the charity auction, meaning she would be auctioned again with the proceeds to go to charity. She was then purchased to be a pet for the niece of our large animal vet, who had immediately recognized Rosie at Bailey's side. Rosie will be well loved!
Bailey got pretty nervous in showmanship, like many youth, and stumbled over questions she typically knows. Funny how it is the easy questions we stumble over, or in her case, in not asking whether she should show on the goat or give description in answering! Haven't we all done that a time or two? Anyhow, a very talented showgirl won, who went on to do very well in round robin! I personally think Bailey did an excellent job of showing Rosie in the auction, and should take a lesson to think of that when showing in the future!
These are some truly wonderful youth. There are amazing kids aplenty i the pygmy goat project, who help out tirelessly and can be counted upon to teach little ones or reach out with unquestionable ethics and sportsmanship. This year, the project director decided to do Spirit Awards. She selected three youth who consistently pitched in and made things work, with a good attitude, and she asked all of the youth to vote on three more youth who embodied the spirit of pygmy goat. In other words, they were right there to teach you, help you and pitch in. Wyatt Clay, on the left, isn't even in pygmy goat, but found his niche running the raffle table and helping break down shows.Sally has great goats, and is always willing to share knowledge, Joey has some showstopping goats too, and helped his Mom run the agility course all year long; Abbey has a smile for everyone and her love of the goats shines through in all that she does; Brian is a sweet senior who never left before Kate and I had finished breaking down a show and was so open with knowledge with all of the youth and so very encouraging (he will be so VERY MISSED); and Bailey loves her goats and will work until its done and help the new ones learn and practice. Kids like these give me hope for the future when I begin to wonder.
Now on to tough decisions. Glory still won her class as usual, but all of Bailey's does are getting older, and she was wanting to get back to more breeding. With all of the college courses and more on the horizon, Charlie mandated that the herd needed to stay size same, which meant that if she wanted to bring more goats home, she would have to let some go. Treasure and Huey are guaranteed to live out their years here, that is only fair for the geriatric goofballs back in their favorite spots in the pens. Glory is a great mama and of sound conformation, so she was to stay. Olympia was this years showmanship goat, who had come a long way, and loved visiting senior care homes, but was at the best possible age for a new beginning and was related to the only bucks here. Just as Bailey was going to put in the paperwork to take Olympia through the auction, a sweet couple who is working on a therapy animal project came by looking for a goat to be a buddy for the one little wether they had. Olympia and Jayda had experience visiting schools and nursing homes, and Bailey wanted Olympia to have a friend she new. They chose to buy both goats.(More on this later...) So i the end, Rose would go to the auction. Bailey had already selected a new buck and doe she wanted to purchase from Brian, the graduating senior on the photo above. She had spoken of both and their respective and shared offspring with the judge and liked how she thought the breeding matches would be with the remaining herd at home.
It is never easy to let an animal move on, but in these cases, they were the right choices. We are proud of her for making such good choices for the herd, and for the animals who moved on. Rose, as I mentioned is going to be a pet for the niece of the vet who has looked out for her through her one kidding; and where she will be loved. she gladly went to the people, which isn't always the case with Rosie!
Jayda and Olympia went off to the folks who are building the nonprofit where they will be therapy animals. Olympia is settling in well, making friends with the little wether her age. I have spoken with the couple a few times now, and Jayda hasn't been settling in as well. They are worried she isn't eating well and in not adjusting or socializing with them or with the wether, so tomorrow I will meet them and bring Jayda back to Patriot's Dream. She is a sweetheart, so I suppose she will be the backup showmanship doe again and the visiting therapy animal when we can. She always loved that duty but hadn't had much time for it since the chickens and Olympia had taken to it lately. But part of being a breeder and herd manager means finding the right situation for everyone. So we will welcome her home, and hopefully she will quickly settle back in here.
The new buck should come home shortly, but it will be another month or so on the new doe. In the next month, the goal will be letting Glory breed, so we can look forward to fall babies!
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