This year’s 4-H goat show in Gunnison, Colorado, was a tale of two families for us. Two kids from one family and one from another purchased wethers to show, so we were looking forward to seeing how they all did.

We’ll talk about Tristan and Abigail first. Since they live in Gunnison—which is a long drive from our farm—their family asked us to pick out two good wethers for them to show at the fair in July.

We took that responsibility seriously and picked out the two we thought would perform best for these two kids.

Here are the two wethers—Ricky (front) and Sebastian—we selected. The family came down in February and took them home with them.

When July came along, our son Jim and I traveled to Gunnison for the show. Unfortunately, Gerald had to work and he really missed going!

With one year of showing goats under their belts, Tristan and Abigail and their family did a good job feeding, bathing and trimming their wethers. Both of the goats looked great.

Here’s Abigail showing Ricky in his market goat class. He was a real beauty and it was no surprise to everyone when he took first place in his class.

Here’s Abigail and Ricky with their first place blue ribbon.

Then Tristan came in to show Sebastain in his market goat class.

Tristan and Sebastain took second place.

We were thrilled for these kids. Both of them did a super job showing their animals. Abigail’s Ricky was a handful, but she was a trooper and hung right on to him.

One thing’s for sure—she is going to be able to handle whatever comes her way in this life. She has all ready proven that. Way to go Abigail!

Abigail in front with Ricky, and Tristan behind and to the right with Sebastian.

Tristan, Abby and their family are just great people. We have enjoyed getting to know them and helping them with their 4-H endeavors.

Now on to our second family. They are also from Gunnison, but as they were new to us this year and wanted several goats, they visited us a couple of times.

First, they came down in August, and then again in January. They picked out some does and a buck for their herd. Son Gabriel also selected Parker, a wether to show at the fair in July.

Here’s Gabriel after picking out his wether.

They returned the end of February and fit all five of their goats in the back of their jeep! Here is dad Dustin and Gerald pushing the last ones in. Sister Madison and Gabriel were holding the goats while their dad was carefully trying to close the hatchback without trapping any legs or tails!

Come July, it was fun to see all of them at the goat show. Gabriel took third place in his market goat class.

Here he is showing Parker.

Then it was time for the showmanship class. All three of these kids were in this same class along with several others, all about the same age.

Gabriel did a super job showing Parker. There was no way the judge could deny him the Reserve Grand Champion Award.

Here he is with his beautiful ribbon along with Dustin his proud Dad!

It is always a thrill to travel to Gunnison every summer as it is such a great community full of wonderful people. It was also nice to see the Blue Mesa Resevoir so full with water coming right up to the bridges. It’s been a while since we have seen it that full.

Congratulations to everyone. We’re already looking forward to next year’s fair!