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 Buccaneer wins Grand, Reserve, at fair By JOSHUA DELAUGHDER Last Updated: July 22, 2010 A miniature donkey named Pokey and five kittens watch over six cats, five dogs, three horses and nine goats on a farm in Riverdale. And on this 40-acre farm, a 10-year-old girl named Samantha Taton has raised those nine goats. She showed five of them at the 4-H & F.F.A. Livestock Show this spring, where they earned top awards. Samantha is a member of Buccaneers 4-H Club. Her 10th birthday was in June (she got a flip-phone) and she has been raising meat goats for three years. “I'm glad I talked into it," Samantha said, referring to the suggestion by her parents Jay and Sharon Taton that she consider raising goats. Her older brother and sister have done it. Samantha cries when her goats are sold, and three that were shown at the spring show indeed sold at auction. They are meat goats and she knows where they're headed. Results from the fair on May 8 found Samantha's goat Magraw winning Grand Champion in the meat goat show. Reserve Champion went to her goat Reba. She showed Starfire in breeding meat goats and won Grand Champion. Nellie and Jill in that show each earned blue ribbons. Outdone by her own goats, Samantha did not win the goat showman award which went to a Wheat Capital Kids 4-H member, out of 10 showmen. Livestock isn't her only project with 4-H, as Samantha enjoys sewing, quilting, arts and crafts, modeling clothes and 4-H Camp, but the goat project is the only one that gets her dragged around the yard, road-rashing her leg or arm or palms. But “they're fun to watch," Samantha said, when they're eating, or just laying down, jumping on logs or a hay pile. “If you can handle a bull, you can handle a goat," Samantha said, who has bottle-raised goats. Three of her goats are registered with the American Boer Goat Association, where judges ask a lot of questions of the showmen. Shown in the photograph are Magraw, a boy, and Starfire, a girl. The Sumner County Fair is planned for the first weekend in August, and Samantha will show her goats there. |
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