# a little rant



## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

ok so i have a few problems going on with my county 4-h. I have been envolved as a member jr. leader and leader of the goat 4-h department for nearly twelve years now. This year there has been a start of a meat goat club. Now i have absolutly nothing against meat goats or the people that raise them but these people are making me want to pull my hair out. They were given a bar at the fairgrounds for their animals. they already have a judge and whatnot. thats great they have their own super intendant. Kidding around (my club) has always welcomed all kids of goats. We have pygmies nigies mini dairy dairy meat pack and fiber. We have been the only club for a long time. Well the meat club as they call themselves have been given a barn but there are only a few stalls suitable for goats. so now they want our barn. and are doing everything in their power to get it. They said they want to put nicer and more stalls in there. why cant they spend the money and do it in their barn? so now they have called a meeting about it. They hadnt even planned on dalling the superintendant of my department, she just got notified because she called the main office.
So im turning to you guys to give me any suggestion you can think of to put my point out that we need to keep our barn. this is what i have come up with so far.
We have had this barn for thirteen years sinse i have been involved in this. I dont know how many years before i was involoved/ We have done all the work and maintenance in this barn. Our kids have worked just as hard as they had, why should we lose our barn. 
thanks for any suggestions you guys can give
beth


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm not sure exactly who would decide who gets what barn but your group would seem to have a prior history of long standing, and presuming that there are no past infgihting goning on, you have shown you can provide a presence and have a good history of working for the good of 4H. These people have yet to prove themselves.
Also, it is good to allow a diverse group to showcase what can be done with goats- some kids may not be as comfortable with a meat animal and would prefer to have a dairy animal to develop. As you allow all people to use the barn vs just meat goats, this would seem to be to 4h's advantage to encourage membership and public service to agriculture.
And maybe your group can offer to help the other club to adapt their barn to goat use - maybe running a joint fund raiser or something.
If this new club is willing to invest the time and effort your club has already, then they should be able to adapt the barn for their use. 
Presuming that your group is not very small and the new group very large- if your membership is small or inactive, maybe you could offer to share some of the barn for their overflow?


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

we have all the stalls filled already. We only have twelve stalls. You can fet two small or one large goat in each stall. What gets me the most is that they think they can just come in and take over. We had talked to the leader and super of this new division sometime ago. thay asked why we didnt have boers. because no one was interested but if we get some then we are more then ahppy to accomodate them. Then they took it upon themselves to make a new division, and are trying to take over the other goat departments.
beth


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

Hopefully the powers that decide such things will just see that your group has the prior claim- wanting is not getting . People can be so irritating at time- make problems where none should exist.


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

You were there first, and you've been there for the longest and have taken care of the upkeep for the building. Doesn't seem like they should be able to barge in like that.

People sometimes :veryangry:


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## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

Wow. I don't envy you for having to deal with this situation, Beth. But as a "tenured leader," you have an opportunity to show your 4-H-ers how to positively and constructively deal with conflict such as this. As a former Scout leader for many years, I know it's very hard to respond "maturely" when new leaders (or parents) come in and want to change everything all of a sudden to suit their own needs without thinking of others in the group. 

Maybe you could "meet" ( :ROFL: = sorry = I couldn't help it ) the "meat" club in the middle some where (center cut steak anyone? :ROFL: :ROFL: ) by indicating you would like the boer goat to be represented in the goat barn. But if they want a whole barn to themselves, they'll have to work it from the ground (a hamburger sounds good right now) up - just like your group did. 

And if the new members refuse to work with you..... give it some time. Their 4-H projects will be on the dinner table before too long anyway and they'll likely move on to something else. Especially after they've heard one too many bad meat goat jokes. 

mmm


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

thanks you guys for your support. The whole reason that this club started was because last year there were two boer goats in the 4-h livestock auction for the first time. Now some guy took pitty on those two goats and didnt want to see them get eaten so he paid six hundred for each of them and they are now pets. My hat goes off to him. Though i dont obkect eating goats. But now these people are thinking that they are going to get around $600 for all of the goats they put through the sale this year. there are some twenty goats being run through the sale. and as you know when theres more to go around they wont get the high price for them. I personally talked to this man when he came in asking about what to feed goats after the first of the year. He said his pasture was running low and was wanting some hay. he told me the story of how he became a goat owner.
beth


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## Shelly (Oct 5, 2007)

I don't think you should lose your barn. How about if you help them with a fund raiser? Like a car wash or pancake breakfast. Maybe help clean the other barn or put up stalls. Tell them you worked hard to get your barn in shape, but are willing to be a good neighbor (community service for your 4-h group) and help them. Also remind them how long it took to get your barn in shape. I bet it took a few years of work. Shelly


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

oh its not amatter of money, at least idont think it is, the offered to pay for new stalls for the existing goat barn. they just dont want to re vamp the other barn for goats for some reason
beth


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## Shelly (Oct 5, 2007)

With new stalls would they be room for all the different in one barn? Shelly


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

there might be, as of now our existing stalls are big enough for one full sized doe. I generally take three stalls and take the dividers out so i cdan fit more goats in there. i dont even think the boers would fit in the stalls depending on how big they are.
beth


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## Shelly (Oct 5, 2007)

The market goats here weight between 60 to 120 lbs. Are they having a breeding class to? Shelly


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

I know how you feel. :roll: :? 

Here in our county we have different main 4H clubs. 42 as a matter of fact, and we have all different kinds of animals in all the groups. So for us it is the fact who gets certain barns. The meat goats have been with the sheep for years because they are market animals. We have been in the fiber goat barn (as we were out there painting and repairing it all the time) and then the Pygmy leader became a Superintendent and guess what, we were kicked out. Then they put us in the barn with the Dairy goat. OK, no problem other then the stalls will not work for goats with horns as they will tear the stalls up. Well after a few years and the Dairy goat numbers dropping fast, so we took a few more stalls, and then they did not like that so they put us outside. Great, it is cooler and has fresh air, they fixed a barn so we have to put tarps on the side and we drop the sides at night and if it rains so they do not get wet. We can not seem to get them to understand that Cashmere goats can NOT get wet. But no problem, it was a barn and it had fresh air. 
Well my numbers went from 13 stalls last year to needing 32 this year, because my numbers are growing so fast. They are not at all happy, they told us we could not have more space just because our numbers are growing. OK, is that right for the kids? I do not think so. Well my club decided to go to the dairy goat barn (the fair grounds superintendent asked us to help)and we gutted the whole inside. So I had my Engineers here at work lay out a floor plane to put stalls. We will be able to get 7 more stalls then we have had in there before. The dairy numbers are down and our numbers are WAY up. What barn do you think we will get? 
The kids do a lot of work to have a decent barn and when they tell them they can not have one, the kids get a little upset.
I am the only leader in the county that is the leader for ALL the kids in the project county wide.
I tell you what we will do for out 4H kids. I will fight to the end for them. Just because we do not sell or goats, they are trying to get them out. Just because I do not play the games that the other do, and kiss **s, they take it out on the kids.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Um they already ahve their own barn, it is selfish to take what you have earned just because they want.

It isn't like they dont' have something and need a place. Use what you were given and make good use of it. it is called Gratitude. Some people just don't get it.


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## Yaupon Acres (Jul 17, 2008)

Unfortunately preference seems to be given to the 'money' animals which means market goats. These are auctioned at the end of shows around here and they can bring a lot of money. Dairy goats are not auctioned but ribbons or plaques are given to the top finishers.


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