Goats hoof it up in the show ring at the Northwest Montana Fair
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Ella Labrum shakes the hand of judge Sierra Meyers after Meyers awarded her grand champion in senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Naomi Brist shakes the hand of judge Sierra Meyers after she won grand champion in junior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
From left, Garrett Brist, Magdolyn Russell, Naomi Brist and Emma Brist wait with their goats before their turns at junior and junior novice goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors walk their goats around the arena during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors walk their goats around the arena during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during junior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors walk their goats around the arena during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A competitor holds her goat in her arms during goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A girl imitates the bleating of a goat named Joy at the Noisy Basin Dairy Goats pen inside the Trade Center at the Northwest Montana Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Two-week-old piglets from Teagen Flint's Wapiti Show Pigs play inside a pen in the Trade Center at the Northwest Montana Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A girl reaches into a pen to pet a two-week-old piglet from Teagen Flint's Wapiti Show Pigs inside the Trade Center at the Northwest Montana Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Not everyone’s goat has what it takes for show business, but the Trade Center was a flurry of brushes and bleats as competitors prettied up their furry friends for the annual goat show held at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday morning.
FFA and 4-H members competed in a series of competitions, with the showmanship rounds kicking off the event at the Flathead County Fairgrounds. Judge Sierra Myers directed the exhibitors and their goats at different points in the ring, looking for chemistry and comfortability between goat and handler.
“The judge is seeing your connection with the goats, and how much you work with them,” 13-year-old Kaden Grant said, a competitor in the Junior Showmanship Competition.
A veteran after showing goats for four years, Katie Shea,12, said the competitions are more between exhibitors, and training their goats to be calm in the ring is key.
“[The goats] need to know not to pull, to keep their feet where we put them because they need to be set up squarely.” She highlighted that keeping eye contact with the judge is a must and cleanliness of the goat will earn points. Shea hopes to eventually show lambs and steer at the fair as well.
The Senior Showmanship Competition, where more experienced competitors took to the ring, was won by 14-year-old Ella Labrum. Labrum said she got into goat showing through her friend Haven Newton, who also took part in the competition.
Caroline Rennie brought her spotted doe Dolly to compete in the Senior Novice Showmanship Competition, which consists of competitors who have only shown their animal for two years or less.
“Most of the time Dolly does OK in showmanship. Most of the time she’s in a good mood and listens to me, but every once in a while, she gets a mind of her own,” Rennie said.
To the Rennies, goat showing is a family affair, and all hands must be on deck. Caroline Rennie started a goat breeding business at 12 years old and now five years into breeding and two years into showing, she doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
“I’ve been obsessed with goats for a long time,” she said. “They have their own personalities and they’re really playful.”
While Rennie finds the breeding business fun, her mother recognizes that it is no easy task.
“She’s such a hard worker,” her mother, Allison Rennie, said. “Her farm chores in the morning probably take her two and a half to three hours, morning and night.”
Rennie assisted in birthing 23 goats this year, having to bottle feed the newborns every 2 hours. Her mother said she would often sleep in the stalls with the goats.
“I am like her assistant,” her mother said, who helps with daily chores. “It’s her passion, so as parents, whatever they’re passionate about, we get behind and go all in. And now we have all these goats.”
Rennie said she got her younger brother, Graham, who worked in the ring with goat Goldie, into the show business too.
Rennie placed second in the competition to 18-year-old Tessa Pheifer who was also in her second year of showing goats.
“I’m so excited,” Pheifer said after securing her ribbon. “I didn’t think my goat did very well in the ring, but I was just calm.” Pheifer said she noticed the judge looked for calmness of the competitors.
“I’m just going to play it cool, go very slow and I think that’s what got me to win,” she said.
Excited for her first show, 9-year-old Rosella Groschupf brought her a five-month-old Nigerian dwarf Marshmallow to the competition. While Groschupf took home sixth in the Junior Novice Showmanship competition, she dealt with her spicy goat with poise and professionalism, always keeping firm eye contact with the judge.
When asked why she liked goats, she said they love to play. “I like that they’re super sweet and when I come into the ring, they are always so happy to see me.”
The second half of the competition looked at the stature and form of the goats. Different events were divided by age, gender or species, placing attention on the utters of dairy goats or the build of meat goats.
One of the last competitions involved exhibitors dressing up with their goats in creative costumes. Pheifer dressed up as an angel alongside her whether goat, Boaz, adorned with a devil get-up.
Superintendent of the goat department Heidi Schwalbe said that the goat showing community is always supportive.
“Even though they're competing against each other, everyone here is helping each other. The kids are competitive, but they also adore each other,” she said.
“The kids totally look forward to this. This is like the grand finale of their 4-H year.”
Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at junderhill@dailyinterlake.com and 758-4407.
Ella Labrum shakes the hand of judge Sierra Meyers after Meyers awarded her grand champion in senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Naomi Brist shakes the hand of judge Sierra Meyers after she won grand champion in junior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
From left, Garrett Brist, Magdolyn Russell, Naomi Brist and Emma Brist wait with their goats before their turns at junior and junior novice goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors walk their goats around the arena during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors walk their goats around the arena during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during junior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors walk their goats around the arena during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
A competitor holds her goat in her arms during goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Competitors line up their goats during senior goat showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Thursday, Aug. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
A girl imitates the bleating of a goat named Joy at the Noisy Basin Dairy Goats pen inside the Trade Center at the Northwest Montana Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider