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July 9, 2009

International association holds Boer goat show

Robert Dodd

DUNCAN — The 2009 International Boer Goat Association’s National Show is once again being held in Duncan, at the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center.

Dakota Ash, 18, of Duncan, has entered the show twice, and has been a member of the IBGA for two years.

“I’ve been working with goats since I was 5 years old,” Ash said. “I got inspired when I was visiting friends one day, and they had some goats. I talked about showing goats with them, and just started from there.”

Boer goats are a specific breed of goat that originated in South Africa, said Kenny Carey, national show chairman.

“They’re a bulkier type of animal, and are different from milk production goats as these are bred for meat production,” Carey said.

The National Show offers a venue for Boer goat raisers and exhibitors to show their hard work and earn awards from the association for themselves and their goats.

“We have a little over 500 entrants this year, total, including all classes and shows throughout the week,” Carey said.

Entrants come from all across the nation, including Texas, Oklahoma, California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri.

“We have visited Duncan for our national show in the past, and the facility staff have been extremely, extremely helpful,” Carey said. “The breeders and exhibitors that we talked to said the staff was exceptional, and wanted to come back to the Duncan area at some point, so that’s where we based our decision (to return to Duncan.)”

“It means a lot for me for it to be held in Duncan again,” Ash said. “I’m familiar with the facilities, and it’s a lot less stressful to get them over here than haul them to other areas around the country”

While some people who show also breed and own the Boers, there are also those who specialize in exhibiting the goats.

“My house is a midway point for the goats,” Ash said. “I clean them, groom them, show them, take care of them and then send them back.”

Two of the most prestigious titles for goats are an ennobled goat and platinum goat.

Ash is currently working with the Flying S for Goats ranch out of Blanket, Texas, to ennoble its goat, Sweethart.

For a goat to be ennobled, it must “have a total of 80 points earned through showing them and three of their offspring,” said Ash. “Goats will only earn one or two points per event; say, if you have 25 goats in an event, a goat would only be able to earn two points from that event.”

The goats must also go through an inspection for the 80-point mark. If the goats have not gone through inspection, they must instead accumulate 100 points. The inspection checks to make sure their bite is correct, their posture is straight and that there are no infections or problems with the udders, Ash said.

“Platinum carries it further along,” Carey said. “It’s the highest award you can receive, and it takes an enormous amount of points; there are very few of them in the country.”

The show will be running at the fair and expo center through Saturday, culminating in presentations of this year’s specialty classes, including the platinum and ennobled animals. These will be presented after the National Open Full-blood Buck Show, which begins at 9 a.m.

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