VAUGHN -- Crafts, flowers, food are all on display at the Benton County Fair but goats, especially the stocky Boer meat goats are a growing category, exhibitors and organizers said Tuesday.
Outside the livestock barn Sassy, an 8-month-old Boer, gently butted Olivia Scribner, 7, of Gentry, in the stomach while her mother Melissa Scribner blow-dried its legs.
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Other exhibitors finished washing and drying their animals, spritzing on last minute applications of tail adhesive and combing out fetlocks so the animals would look their best.
Her favorite part of having goats is playing with them and watching them play, Olivia said. The goats' favorite part of the fair has been watching the people, she said.
The two goats are part of her involvement in the Outdoor Adventures 4-H Club.
Goats take up less space, require less feed and less maintenance than cattle, Melissa Scribner said. She hopes raising animals teaches her daughter responsibility, teamwork and respect for the animals.
"I hope both of them win," Olivia said.
This year animals overflowed the livestock barn and milk goats were placed in a striped tent outside. It's the first year that's happened, said Mary Farriester, meat goat superintendent. Farriester, meat goat superintendent for five years, attributes the overflow to an increase among sheep, meat goats and dairy goats at this year's fair.
The economy is strong so more families are able to have animals and the market for goat meat is definitely there, Farriester said.
She estimated 75 animals were entered in meat goat categories. Dairy goat superintendent Cathy Brown, said entries were up to about 30 animals, about 10 more than last year.
Her grandparents raised goats, Scribner said, although she raised and showed cattle as a teen. Goats have gained popularity in Texas and Oklahoma and they've arrived in Arkansas, Scribner said.
There are several reasons the number of goats is increasing, said Deb Lindsey, of Lindsey Boer Goats in Centerton. Goats have personality so they are fun for children to raise. Two of her children showed a dozen goats this year, she said. Meat goats don't have to be milked twice a day, making them easier to care for and the meat is selling well locally.
People from India, the Marshall Islands and Latin America all want goat meat. People buy goats from the Centerton sale barn or off web listings, she said. Some Northwest Arkansas goats are shipped to California or Pennsylvania for slaughter because there are only a couple packing facilities in the United States working with goat meat, Lindsey said. The meat quality is better at the local level.
Goat sales and the premiums raised at the fair are the reason Aryana Mitchell, 18, of Siloam Springs and her brothers raise the animals.
"That's the only reason that we do this. It goes toward our college fund," Mitchell said.
Her first goats were to keep the horse company, but the goats were more entertaining. Then seven years ago she took goats to the fair and showed them. A livestock auction on Saturday night allows Northwest Arkansas businesses to sponsor the children's animals and pay out premiums on them.
Her first year she got a couple hundred dollars from the premium sale and she was "sold" on the idea of showing goats. Last year she got between $500 and $600 on one animal.
Young children can't hold a job, Mitchell said, but they can sell an animal or take part in the premium sale and it's kind of like having a small job.
The family breeds their own goats and the children care for the kids and pick out the animals they will show. During the summer months they train the goats to walk on a lead. Once the fair is over the animals are sold or butchered, Mitchell said.
Dairy goats require more responsibility, said Danica Tate, 16 of Gravette. It's her ninth year to show at the fair and the number of entries has grown, especially goat entries, she said. She showed meat goats once, but she wants to keep her animals, not sell them or slaughter them after a year.
"For my dairy I can keep showing them every year until they die," she said.
Judges look for animals who are true to breed.
Breed qualities can be a disadvantage for exhibitors showing meat goats because unless the animal is used for breeding it will show only once.
Mitchell chose a young goat with a wide frame, but her brother did too. His didn't fill out. It's difficult to predict how the animal will grow.
"You're gonna feed them all the same thing," Mitchell said.
Hayden Harris, 12, said he was pleased with his showing. His sable won dairy goat best in show supreme in junior doe.
"I've had good goats and I've had bad goats but I actually won this year," he said.
Watching their children get a recognition for all the hard work is important, parents said.
"They've worked all year. They do their own feeding, their own walking and their own breaking to lead," said his mom, Misty Harris of Gravette.
NW News on 08/12/2015