Livestock shows kicked off on Tuesday at the Knox County Fair. Chris Fleming from Paxton, Illinois was the judge for the Knox County American Boer Goat Association (ABGA) and the Illinois Wether Series.
“We’re looking for a heavy-muscled goat that’s really going to grow well and have good structure and balance,” said Fleming. “And that’s something that as a judge that I was looking for today.”
Fleming, judges goats on both a national and local level, and sometimes those two worlds collide.
“We had some market wethers that the young lady told me that just been a champion at the national show in Louisville, just a couple of weeks ago and it was the same goat that I went ahead and chose for the champion overall,” said Fleming. “That goat really stood out for its mass and muscle and still had a good complete balance and still looked apart and had structural soundness to go along with the mass and muscle. So it really was a fun show to evaluate.”
When asked to share some advice on choosing a good show animal, he said to pay attention to what judges are looking for and take advantage of the knowledge from the different breeders in the show barn.
