Another exhausting but amazing 4 days at the Big E has come and gone. With Quinn aged-out of 4-H, Amanda is the only youth left showing goats. Adding to the madness, I (Rob) returned from a work trip at 1130 on Thursday and we (Rob and Amanda) headed up to the Big E at 1 that afternoon. The Eastern States Exposition (aka Big E) is the defacto New England State Fair and this dairy goat show is the culmination of the show season for youth from the 6 New England states. I am part of the show committee assisting with the planning and execution as well as chaperone for some of the youth male participants.

Amanda took 6 goats to show in the youth show, but only 1 milker. Porsche is Amanda’s milker and showmanship goat because Amanda loves her, but Porsche hates her job. She is hard to clip and kicks HARD when you try to do anything to her back legs. Porsche also hates when the judge tries to touch her. Friday included the fitting and showmanship competitions where Amanda was in the 2nd oldest group of 13 youth; she placed 6th in both fitting and showmanship.

On Saturday, the breed classes were judged. This is a youth show and most breeds don’t have a lot of competition, although lamanchas are starting to become more popular. Of note, we get to see CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina’s 2023 daughter and granddaughter who are in Maine at this show each year. Sawfish AS Porsche took Champion and Best of Breed Lamancha in the senior show and then Sawfish Bon Bon took Junior Champion Lamancha where Amanda had 4 of the 5 in the lineup.

As always, it was a busy weekend and Amanda ran out of gas at times. But a quick nap ringside gave her enough of a recharge to keep going. Since Amanda no longer has Quinn to hang out with, she spent more time with the other exhibitors and started building the stronger friendships this event is famous for.

After the youth show ended on Saturday, some of the goats left and others started moving in. Rob headed home for the night to get more goats and Amanda slept in the barn with other exhibitors. The quick turnaround at home had me back in Springfield by 7 am Sunday with our pens loaded up with most of our herd. Anna didn’t join the showing because she now has a job and had to work (but that’s a different story).

Sawfish AS Porsche took first in her age group, but didn’t win overall. CH (pending) Majenli LK Carolina was 2nd in the Champion Challenge/Best of Breed lineup.

The real magic happened in the junior Lamancha show. There were 13 junior Lamanchas representing 7 different herds. When we got to the champion lineup for junior Lamanchas, the Sawfish herd had 3 of the 4 first place goats and Sawfish Bon Bon was chosen as Junior Champion out of the youngest age group. This earned her restricted leg. Of note, her aunt, Sawfish QS Mina, did the same thing at this show last year.

While Fox’s Pride took the Best Junior Doe in Show award with a very nice Nubian (even if it does have long ears). Bon Bon got a lot of looks from the judge before it was said and done. In the end, Amanda won Premier Lamancha Breeder and Premier Lamancha Junior Exhibitor.

Since we were at a nice venue and had the girls out, we took some updated pictures to share. That concludes our show season and we are excited to get started with breeding. Stay tuned for the release of our breeding plans.