Introducing Nibbles

On Saturday, Justina visited White Rail Ranch in Porterville, California to pick out a goat for her 4-H project. She will raise it and show it at the Santa Barbara County Fair. We stayed the night at my mother's house in Bakersfield on Friday. Then on Saturday, Justina and I, along with my mother, drove up the 65 to Porterville. When we arrived, we were greeted by owner, Judy Kaye.

Judy led us over to a pen of about ten wethers, born in November. (A wether is a castrated male goat or lamb.) She had pretty much picked one out for Justina, Ear tag 501, but I looked at all of them anyway. And the one she picked was the best one of the group. Of course, my goat experience isn't worth a hill of beans. For the Santa Barbara Fair, they need to be born after October 1st.

November Wethers

This is Justina's first year showing large livestock at the Fair. Up until this year, she had only shown rabbits and cavies. The wether she got seemed to bond to her instantly. And he was extremely calm which is great for a young person like Justina. She eventually named him Nibbles for the way he liked to nibble on her sweatshirt sleeve.

After we decided on the wether, Judy went to get her mule cart with a trailer to take Justina and Nibbles over to the scale to weigh.
















Justina rode in the trailer on the back of the Mule cart, as Judy showed us around the ranch and took us to the scale. The goat was weighed, wormed, and dusted for lice. She also changed his herd tag for a scrapie tag. On the way home, Justina said she loved the ride because she felt like she was in a parade.

During our ride around the ranch, we got to see Nibbles' dam, Mo Special, and his sire, Jack Knife. He weighed 70 pounds. The minimum weight for the Fair is 75 pounds. One year, Amanda's lamb barely made weight. That was a nerve racking experience and one that I would like to avoid. With being only 5 pounds under the minimum and four months until Fair, there will be no weight worries with this guy. While on the scale, Judy changed out his ear tag for a scrapie tag, wormed him, and dusted him for lice and mites.

Judy Kaye, owner of White Rail Ranch and Justina, my mother in background

As a project leader for sheep, I try to encourage kids to go with a breeder that has the mindset to teach and guide them, not just sell them an animal. All sorts of things can happen with livestock. Years ago, we were an agrarian society. If you had a question, you could trip over experienced livestock people. Now, at least on the Central Coast, not so much. Connecting with someone who not only has that knowledge but want to pass it along is crucial to a positive outcome with that project animal. I really feel like we did that with Judy Kaye at White Rail Ranch. She was very encouraging with Justina. And even by the time we got home to Orcutt, Justina had more confidence in handling him.

























We got home around 5 pm, which worked out perfectly because that is the approximate evening feeding time, we were hoping for. Justina took a brush and brushed off any shavings and mud. Then she put a blanket on him as it was still getting pretty cold here at night. She fed him and then spread out some pine shavings for him in his shelter. It will take him a few days to get settled into his new home.

Nibbles was sad to see Justina go home.