Star-Telegram photo by Jen Friedberg
Steven Mallette, 3, of Fort Worth plays with a Nigerian dwarf goat Wednesday at the Little Britches Pony Club's picture booth.
Posted by GoatWorld on January 17, 2003 at 06:03:33:
Posted on Thu, Jan. 16, 2003
Dwarf goats big on charm
By one yardstick, tiny competitors can't be too tall or too short, but just right
By David Casstevens
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Star-Telegram photo by Jen Friedberg
Steven Mallette, 3, of Fort Worth plays with a Nigerian dwarf goat Wednesday at the Little Britches Pony Club's picture booth.
Bette Davis stood on four tiny legs and emitted a miniature bleat.
She didn't want to submit to this.
No one else, not the cattle or horses or llamas or sheep or pigs, had to.
It seemed like an officious waste of time.
But rules require that the height of every entry in her breed must be measured, so the tawny Nigerian dwarf goat from Cleburne waited in the company of her owner while a judge with the sanctioning American Goat Society knelt and produced her official yardstick.
If Bette Davis exceeded the maximum height allowed (22.4 inches) the doe would be disqualified.
She also could be dismissed for having a curly coat, a Roman nose or evidence of a curious muscle condition exhibited in Tennessee fainting goats.
Tennessee fainting goats don't actually faint, but when startled or surprised they become stiff as an ironing board and fall over.
Trying to line up Tennessee fainting goats for judging must be a challenge, with all that swooning.
About the time one stricken goat recovers and climbs happily to its feet, another goes down.
A scheduled one-hour show might take a week to complete.
Judge Judy Quagliana of Westfield, N.Y., squinted at the gradations on her ruler. "Nineteen and a half!" she announced.
Bette Davis, led by breeder Kellye Bussey, entered the ring. The year-old doe received the blue ribbon in her class.
Nigerian dwarfs are the smallest hoofed animals at the Stock Show. The little goats, raised at Bussey's Twin Creeks Farm in Cleburne, Piddlin Acres in Burleson and on other small farms in area counties, belie the boast that everything in Texas is bigger.
Texas Nigerian dwarf goats are no larger than those bred in other parts of the country.
They're very small, and lovable.
"They're like dogs," said breeder Janet Maples of Hondo. "They'll jump right up into your lap."
About 22,000 of the goats are registered with the American Goat Society. That's not many compared with other livestock breeds, but their number and popularity are growing by leaps and bounds, which is how their offspring play. Bussey watched two of her 3-week-olds butt heads in a pen.
"There's a reason they call 'em kids," she said, smiling.
In this age of microtechnology -- pocket-size telephones, palm-size computers, mini-pizzas, minivans -- mini-goats fit right in.
The little critters are gentle and even-tempered. They make ideal pets and animal projects for children and young adults in FFA and 4-H. They share pastures peacefully with other livestock and, despite their diminutive size, can provide 2 quarts of high-butterfat milk a day.
They also appear impossible to embarrass in the show ring, where they stand with hind legs spread while judges examine them.
Blue-ribbon dwarf goats can't be too tall.
But they can't be too short either.
"You want 'em tall enough to milk," said Bussey, who showed six goats this week and took home a handful of ribbons and a large purple satin banner trimmed in gold, awarded for "Best Udder."
David Casstevens, (817) 390-7436 dcasstevens@star-telegram.com