Showing, burnout, and priorities

Over the years, I’ve shown my goats on a limited basis. One or two shows a year, three or four goats per show. 

This year I’ve become burned out on that aspect of owning Nigerian dwarf goats. I’m at the same place with Nigerians that I was with showing Arabian horses decades ago.

It comes down to priorities. Showing isn’t now, nor has it ever been a priority for my herd. Correctness is a priority for my herd, as is disposition, and production. 

Moreover, goating is only one aspect of my life. I have a very demanding job, wonderful family and friends, and five acres to maintain by myself. Time is limited and precious, and kidding season already consumes my available time each spring.

Let’s recap my last show season. I attended one show. The setting was great and I enjoyed visiting with friends. However it was still a frustrating experience for me. Southern California Nigerian shows have become intensely competitive and we all know about the huge class sizes. And while I’m waiting for my massive Nigerian class, I’m watching standard breeders enjoy smaller class sizes. 

I’m a data geek. The entire time I’m watching the standard shows I’m thinking about the math. Smaller class sizes = greater chances of success. It also means less stress for me.​

My show ring results were not bad. I showed a few goats, and a friend showed a yearling sired by an Owhaven buck. My friend’s yearling placed consistently well (top 5) and one of my yearlings was right behind her in the ring. 

But the cost/benefit analysis (CBA) was bad in terms of my time and effort. If you’re operating your farm as a business, CBA is an important process. I operate mine as a business because it means that I can deduct the expenses during tax time. 

via GIPHY

The costs to me are in terms of time. Showing took time away from other things that I could have done with my weekends. My weekends are precious to me, and two weekends prior to the show were spent on show preparations, such as clipping goats and loading the van. Then there’s the post-show cleanup (not to mention, sweat, grit, and goat hair in my bra!).

After that experience I decided to completely forget about the Nigerian world for a while. Instead of watching the nationals and prepping for west-coast shows post-nationals, I remodeled my master bathroom. All. By. Myself. I learned how to do rough plumbing, lay tile, and change electrical outlets. It was an empowering, relaxing, and productive experience. 

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on this last summer and I realized that this was the best decision for me, right now. I went back to work this August feeling refreshed and ready to go back to teaching.​

Every year I examine my priorities for the herd. I’ve achieved many of my goals. Thanks to guidance from the linear appraisal process and ongoing study of genetics and breeding techniques, my herd is consistent and correct. When I look at them I am pleased, visually. Thanks to milk testing, they are also productive.

It’s time to shift focus. Overall, I’m happy with my does’ milk volume. There are a lot of breeders out there who are focused on making the Top Ten. That’s not my niche. My main market niche is, and always has been, homesteaders and family farms in central and southern California. What they need are does that are productive, easy to manage, have long lactation curves, and produce milk that is rich in butterfat.

Butterfat is an important component in cheese. I like cheese. What that means for me is that I’m planning on shipping a buck (or two) here from the east coast in order to meet my butterfat production goals, while maintaining correctness.

Looping back to showing. Showing and milk production can be tough to balance. Show fills can have an adverse effect on production, as can the stressors of showing. 

Then there’s the problem with time. Are you tired after a show? I sure am. That means less energy for making cheeses and soaps. 

All these factors have shaped a decision to focus on the “dairy” aspect of Nigerian dairy goats. I’m going to put my energies into animals that produce butterfat-rich milk and into making products with that milk.​

I’m going to continue with linear appraisal. But, I need to relieve some pressure to dig myself out of burnout. What that means in practice is that I’m going to downshift from 305 DHIR testing to one-day-tests (ODT). While this won’t measure lactation curves, I’ve found that my work quickly becomes too intense to allow me to sustain a year of milk testing, so 305 is off the table for me regardless.

Some other advantages of ODT is that (a) the requirements for a milk star are rigorous and (b) it gives me a quick way to screen my goats. I want my does to consistently earn their milk stars by their second freshenings. ​

Well, it’s 5:30 am in southern California. It’s time to feed the beasts and get ready for work. 

Take care y’all!

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