Showing Under a
Memorandum of Understanding
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When we started in the goat business, we started with
several unregistered and percentage does. What is
the output of these animals? Bucks and Does. The unregistered
or percentage does, bred to a full blood buck, produce
percentage does and bucks. As you repeat this process,
your herd increases in percentage and quality. But
how about those little percentage bucks? What do you
do with them? When we started, we sold them at weaning
at the local goat sale barn. When you only have a
few that works, but remember that a little buckling
can breed at three to four months.
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Because we didn't want little percentage bucklings
breeding, we started wethering our percentage bucklings.
We band. Our first group of wethers grew well and
were sold as prime. We received over $1.30 a pound
(live weight).
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We had one really solid buckling that we wethered
and showed him at the Cullman
Open Market show. With help from Linda Merrell
and Jennifer Williams from Kingdom Acres Farm, we
fitted out the wether but didn’t shave him down.
He weighed in at 55 lbs and Becky Williams showed
him. Grover took a third place in a class of 16. Linda
thought he would do great during the 4-H show season.
Since the Cullman show was really the only one where
wethers were shown by adults, we agreed that the 4-H
circuit was what Grover needed. So Grover went to
live at Kingdom Acres Farm. |
We were tickled with our first venture into showing
wethers. After doing an Embryo Transfer we determined
we needed a tease. Grover had looked great, so we
chose his little brother to be the tease.
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Ollie was the next of Queue’s bucklings. He
looked great as a kid, very much like Grover. Of the
shows we went to, a very few had wether shows. We
took Ollie to Cullman
and Ollie took a fourth. Our next show, Upper
Cumberland Goat Producers Association Goat Show,
we added Ollie to the show list and he took a first
place, but had to be shown by a 4H youth. |
This kid needed to be shown.
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We had tried to sale show wethers before, but no one
in our area wanted to pay the price we could get at
the sale barn for them. We called the Hallmarks, suggesting
they come look at our crop of five wethers for the
year. They came down, looked at them, got in the pen
with them, but didn’t adopt any of them.
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A couple of days later, we had an idea. What if we
offered Ollie to Tiffany, the Hallmark’s teenage
daughter, to show? We sat down and wrote a Memorandum
of Understanding. The memo gave her control of Ollie.
We would pay all of the entire fees, she would get
all of the cash winnings, and we would get the ribbons.
If Ollie won State and was sold, we would equally
share the sale price, and Tiffany would get a 500
dollar saving bond from us. Her parents read over
the memo and agreed to allow her to sign it. Ollie
went home with the Hallmarks.
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Oh, Casey, their younger daughter, adopted Zantana
for ‘her’ wether. |
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Ollie has one Grand Championship, one Reserve Championship,
four first place finishes and two fourth place finishes.
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Ollie showed well, and Tiffany earned a nice purse
in each of the show he was in. At the Tennessee
State Fair, Ollie placed fourth in his class -a
big class. We did not shave down the wethers, I guess
a mistake since most of the high placer and winners
were shaved like sheep. |
Tiffany has already expressed an interest in Queue’s
current pregnancy. If Queue has a buckling, Tiffany
wants to show it. We agreed. Probably another Memorandum
of Understanding. Casey might even get a MOU since
she will be showing next year.
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In a conversation with the local USBGA representative,
USBGA members are encouraged to participate in the
Adopt a Wether program. Allowing 4H youth to adopt
and show a USBGA member's wether encourages youth
to get involved in the goat industry.
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Any youth, showing one of our wethers, who wins an
overall grand championship at a state event, ie, Tennessee
State Fair or Alabama National Fair or equal event
in another state, will receive a $500 savings bond.
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