Kentucky! We’re here!!! We finally arrived around 5 pm that afternoon. I guess we’d cut it close but we hadn’t noticed. We had a good, safe trip and had arrived safely, with everybody making the journey without incident and in good health, always a good thing when traveling with milkers over such a distance. The herd was visibility happy to be at their destination. Tired, but definitely happy.

After arrival and going through the vet check-in, sign in, unloading, setting up and getting all our girls nestled in, we were able to begin the tasks of preparation for the big show day on Monday. Nubians were the first breed lined up to show that week, which I was glad for. No counting down the days with tension mounting when we show. With class entries of anywhere from 60 to 70 plus Nubians per age class, last minute grooming details are important. Interestingly, I found that showing in such large classes for me to be less stressful then showing in our local shows of 10 to 15 Nubians per class. At the Nationals, in a huge ring that is a sea of goats encompassing the entire ring I feel somehow comforted by the mass, knowing fellow exhibitors are feeling the same high excitement and anxiety too of showing their animal at the Nationals. Somehow that brings a strange comfort to me. Would that be likened to the saying that misery loves company? However, I had a special treat this year when a friend showed my Crisy. I think it was more nerve racking standing ringside just standing and watching, hoping she’d make the cut. In the Nubian classes the sizes they are, the Judges make a cut of 20 does out of the majority to begin their final Judging and line-up placements and excuse the rest of the animals in the class. So hoping to be in the cut holds anxiety. The up side to standing ringside and watching someone else exhibit your animal is being able to actually watch and take pictures. And take pictures I did.

I was very happy that all 7 of our girls we took to Nationals made the cut.

Starting out, with our 3 juniors.

In Class 71: Junior Kid, Morie placed 15th.

In Class 73: Senior Kid, Fiesta Puddn Ol’e placed 4th

In Class 75: Senior Yearling, Cameron Doeiaz placed 14th

In Class 76: Best 3 Junior Does, Morie, Fiesta and Cameron placed 5th

With our 4 milkers, in Class 79: Two Year Old Milker, Misty placed 3rd with 3rd udder

In Class 80: 3 Year Old Milker, Sunny placed 19th, just barely making the cut, that was a close

In Class 82: 5 And 6 Year Old Milker, Crisy placed 8th

And in Class 83: 7 Years And Older Milker Pudd’n placed 1st with 1st Udder. And the rest is history going on to achieve the National Res. Grand Champion title, Res. Udder and Top Performer

In Class 84: Nubian Dairy Herd, placing 3rd Place. Class 85: Best 3 Senior Does (Pudd’n, Crisy & Misty) 6th place

Class 87: Produce Of Dam with Pudd’n and Sunny, 2nd Place.

All in all, with all 7 animals making the cut, 3 does in the top 20 (14th, 15th & 19th pl.) one in the top 10 (8th pl.) 3 does in the top 6 (1st, 3rd & 4thpl.) it was an awesome National show for us.