# Goat Gossip 77



## sealawyer (May 31, 2009)

10/6/2009

Goat Gossip 77

And a good time was had by all&#8230;&#8230;.

Have you ever had a premonition? You know, a feeling that some thing is about to happen but you're not quite sure what that thing is? That is the way I felt at the Open Pen Sale provided by the Freestone Co. Goat Breeders Assn. on September 26th. The day started out with kicking things off by unloading and assigning different Folks pens and getting things situated as best as the membership could. Pens were assigned on a first come, first served basis with the main pens reserved for the Folks that called ahead and spoke for a slot. We had just the right amount of pens and didn't use the temporary ones except for the meat goats. Anyway, things got going and a few interested folks showed up from ten to Noon and kinda just admired our stock with few interested in buying. Uschi Billings of Billings Farm kept asking me where all of the buyers were and I kept answering that I didn't rightly know and to be patient because they would get there in due time. I just had a feeling that things would pick up after lunch!
Along about Noon some of the sellers left and I felt kind of disappointed and worried because things weren't going too swimmingly. This was a first time thing for the association to have a Fall pen sale and there was a great deal of uncertainty about how things were going to turn out. We had advertised quite a lot and put fliers out in a lot of places and I had put the word out via the internet so it was hard not to notice we were going to have the sale.
Folks were having a good time visiting and talking goats, eating the goat meat tacos which were donated by the FCGBA and various treats provided by the Dew 4-H for donations, and just generally enjoying getting together for the sale. Then along about 12:30 folks started showing up! It got pretty durned hectic for a while with several buyers using the spare pens we had built to stow away their purchases while they shopped some more. A good variety of goats including Full Blood Boers, Boer X, meat goats, and wethers were sold. Buyers were pretty discerning with folks looking for and finding some bargains and also some real fine brood stock for their operations. I had put the word out to folks on the internet to bring some show wethers because I felt that some of the area folks with February, March, and April shows were going to come looking for them. Sure as God made little green apples we had nearly a double handful of folks looking for show wethers, specifically ones that were dehorned. There were several Ag Teachers from the area schools that bought most of our muley wethers in the meat goat pen for $1.05 a pound! What a deal! Gwen and I thought that they wouldn't be good enough to sell for show but they bought them. If someone would have brought a trailer load of muley wethers they could have made a mint!
There were a lot of pleased buyers and sellers, with Mr. P. A. Thomas of Katy buying a good amount of Boer & Boer X nannies from Kay Stovall, Uschi & Steve Billings, and us. Nearly 20 does which he was planning on restocking with were loaded on his trailer for the trip south! The 15 meat goats sold well with all but 3 of the 11 that Gwen and I brought being sold. Some went for show, some for eating, and even some for tie-down goats for future Rodeo Cowboys and Cowgirls!
The FCGBA would like to thank the following Intrepid Breeders who had the gumption to come and sell at our first ever fall pen sale: Theresa Tindel of Eustace and De Anna Browning of Eustace, James Johnson of Tom Bean, Kay Stovall of Gainesville, Susan Rektorik Henley of Henderson, Melisa Mason of C'em Walkin' Ranch in Waco (www.CemWalkin.com), Nathan Lapp of Cedar Creek, Ken & Sandee Gragert of Lovelady (www.ksggboergoats.com), Steve & Uschi Billings of Huntsville, Troy Brown/ BSR Boers of Waxahatchie, Ms, Rose King of Rockdale, and Robert Tiedt. FCGBA members were represented by Don & Ryan Hall of Fairfield, Wesley Daniel of Butler, Ms. Doris Fouse of Athens (thanks for selling that beautiful red doeling to me Ms. Doris!), Max Hamilton of Normangee brought some of his Kikos, Darlene Chaffin of Anderson Co., and the VanderMartins of Dew. If you saw something at the sale and need to get in touch with these folks, then let me know.
I would like to thank our President Gary Tugwell and his fine brother James for their efforts in setting up, breaking down, cleaning up, and planning the sale. Thanks to Russell and Rose Gilbreath for their help and for providing the delicious goat meat tacos. Everyone loved them! Even the youngsters! Thanks to my fellow members and their families (Ms. Judy, Ryan, and Rhys!) who help out where they could, we couldn't have done it without you all.
Thank you Dew 4-H!!! Those Amazing Ants were everywhere helping out with teamwork and superior goat handling abilities. Thank you Scooter Wright for taking care of the taco distribution and portion control! Thanks Ms. Jennie & Ms. Charlotte, and of course Mr. John and all of the other Parents!!!
Thank you to all of the newspapers, web sites, yahoo groups and all of the other media who helped us get the word out! I would list all of you fine folks, but Mr. Wayne fusses if I go to long with this. If I missed anyone then I profusely apologize and THANK YOU!
The ETGRA will have its General Membership Meeting and educational program on October 17th. It will be held at SFA Goat Research Center, highway 259 north of Nacogdoches and begin at 10am. Topic of the program is buck selection and care, advanced reproduction and introduction to Artificial Insemination. Speakers include Dr. Erin Brown of SFA, Dr. Nuti of Prairie View A & M and Scott Horner also from Prairie View A & M. ETGRA Open Sale - October 24th, Henderson Expo Center, Henderson, TX. Sale begins at noon. Goat can be viewed at 10:30 am or so. Members of ETGRA, NETGRA, and FCGBA are invited to bring their goats. Check-in will be from 1pm-7pm on 10/23/09 and from 7am till 10am on 10/24/09. Please go to sale information to review sales rules. For more information contact Paul Joplin at 936-347-3241. The ETGRA is having a raffle for a portable hayrack. Tickets are $5 each or 6 for $25. The hayrack was made by Greg Ashabranner and consists of three pieces. It can be assembled by one person in about five minutes and holds one square bale of hay. The hayrack is easy to move from pasture to pasture as you rotate your herd. The winning ticket will be drawn at the January, 2010 general membership meeting. Tickets will be sold at all association events. Tickets may also be purchased by mail, please include your name, address, contact phone number. Make checks payable to ETGRA and mail to P O Box 152937; Lufkin, Texas75915, for info go to www.etgra.com. NETGRA Catalogue Production Sale - NOVEMBER 14th, 2009. Location: Hunt County Fairgrounds, Viewing: 9:00am - 11:00am, Lunch: 11:00am - 12:30am, Sale: 1:00pm. Catalogue will be available on www.boergoats.com at a later date. See special events page at www.netgra.com for the special notice on consignments. 
If anyone would who participated in our sale would like to comment or make suggestions, or if you have any good goat gossip then call 903-388-8528 or e-mail [email protected]. Bye, for now.


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## Lawanda (Jun 11, 2009)

I am glad it went so well!!


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## sealawyer (May 31, 2009)

Yes, all of our members were starting to wonder "What if you had a sale and nobody came?"  But after a couple of hours the buyers showed up! :leap: Everyone had a good time. arty:


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## CrossCreekTX (Aug 10, 2009)

That sounds much better than sending them to the auction barn. It looks like you had some breeders from outside of Freestone Co?

Are you planning a spring sale?


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## sealawyer (May 31, 2009)

Yes, we have a spring sale for members that concentrates on show wethers and breeding nanny meat goats for the youngsters to show in our June fair.


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## CrossCreekTX (Aug 10, 2009)

I may not have anything to sell, but I know several breeders in the area and can pass the info along. I'll be looking for the announcement next spring.


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