BY LARRY DUPEE
Special to the Times
LAKE BUTLER — On Feb. 5, the Union Kassi Ka County Livestock Association held a goat show at the Union County Agricultural Center arena to give area youngsters an opportunity to practice their showring skills with their animals and learn about how their animals are judged. The Union County Agricultural Fair is coming up in March, and area youth planning on showing their animals there and/or the Bradford County Fair and area youth are in the process of getting ready for the event(s).
According to UCLA President Jason Stalnaker the show was designed to be an educational experience where exhibitors could “learn showing techniques and also how they and their animals will be judged.” The pre-show discussion was made up of topics such as how to best “set-up” and display and animal, questions a judge might ask an exhibitor about their animal and what a judge looks for in animal.
Stalnaker enlisted the help of a friend from Ft. White, Amber Rogers, a student at Santa Fe High School, who brought about 8 years of showing experience to the event, giving hands on instruction using exhibitors goats on show technique.
Nineteen exhibitors and their animals (with some exhibitors showing in more than one animal) competed in six classes (appropriate to their animal(s)) to get a taste for such events. The classes were fewer than would be seen at a big event, often with a larger age range for competitors and breed/size range for the animals. Stalnaker served the role of the judge, with comments offered by Rogers.
Classes 1 and 2 contained wether goats, placed in classes by size. In Class 1 the winners were: First Place – Jolene Moore, Second Place – Ryder Akins and Third Place – Kassi Kadlec. Class 2 winners were: First Place – Hunter Brewster, Second Place – D’vante McCall and Third Place – Trinitie McCall.
Class 3 was made up of meat does. The winners were: First Place – Cuyler Collins, Second Place – Wayne Hartley and Third Place – Paxton Graham.
Class 4 was made up of large meat does, all of the Boer breed. Grace Box took first place, Tinley Denunzio took second place honors and Lane Hartley took third place.
Class 5 was made up of large Nubian goats, while Class 6 contained the smaller Nigerian and Dwarf goats. In the large goat judging, Kalli Kadlec earned first place, while Callen Collins took second place. In the smaller sized group of animals, Kullen Kadlec earned first place with Callen Collins taking second. In the smaller goat judging, Kullen Kadlec took first place with Madison Parker in second place, Kayln Reynolds in third and, rounding out the class, Jackson Brewster in fourth.
In the last event of the day, the winners of all six classes competed for the title of Overall Grand Champion for the event.
Grace Box took the title of Overall Grand Champion, while Kalli Kadlec took second, Jolene Moore earned third, Kullen Kadlec took fourth in show, Cuyler Collins came in fifth and Hunter Brewster rounded out the competition in sixth.
University of Florida IFAS Agricultural Extension Agent, the agent for the county, was on hand to help give out the prizes and keep up with the needs of attendees.
