Franklin County farmers compete with the GOATs at national goat show

It was goats galore this summer in the Valley as more than 3,000 animals arrived at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield for the American Dairy Goat Association’s National Show, drawing farmers from across the country. With the competition close to home, farmers at Thomas Farm & Dairy in Sunderland and Oak Hollow Livestock in Shelburne Falls decided to join the herd.

“For the first time in … at least 20 years, it was here in Massachusetts, so it was a big deal for us,” said Laurie Cuevas, who raises about 200 goats at Thomas Farm & Dairy for milk and cheese with her partner, Jim Thomas. “We were like, ‘How are we going to miss out on that?’”

There, Cuevas, Thomas and the Davis family from Oak Hollow Livestock met farmers from as far away as California who milked their goats at rest stops along the route.

Before heading to the competition at the Big E, the farmers spent weeks to months picking the right competitors and bathing and trimming the animals so they are show-ready. With a laugh, Sara Davis of Oak Hollow Livestock described her 15-year-old daughter, Madison Davis, stepping into the house with a full coat of goat hair from trimming the animals — Madison Davis’s least favorite chore.

On the June show day, farmers braved the heat and thunderstorms and showed their goats in separate competitions based on the animals’ breeds and ages. According to Cuevas, the judges score the goats based on several categories, including overall appearance, legs, udders and other criteria, and compare them against breed standards. For Nubian goats, Cuevas said the judges look for an arched nose and floppy ears long enough to meet below the chin.

 “The higher the score, the better the animal,” Cuevas said simply.

At the competition, Madison Davis picked up a few tips from older breeders, like, “Start at the bottom and build up.”

“You want them to have really strong feet and legs and then you can build onto that,” Madison Davis explained as the goats in her barn listened.

At the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA) National Show, Madison Davis took home the title of Premier Sire for her newest Saanen, Holo, and her little brother, Christopher Davis, 7, earned seventh place in the youth judging competition. Besides Holo, four other Saanens ranked above 10th place in their shows, including Icicle, Misty, Gem and Tundra.

“What you want to be is top 20 — make the cut, they call it,” Cuevas explained.

Thirteen of Cuevas and Thomas’s goats “made the cut” in their categories, including six that the couple bred and raised themselves.

“Being recognized for the work you’ve put in, it’s amazing,” said Madison Davis, who started milking goats as a toddler like her brothers did, before competing in her first goat show at 5 years old.

According to Sara Davis, the national show gives farmers a kind of “assurance” when shopping for goats.

“It tells buyers that this animal has been in front of judges and has done well enough, is structurally correct enough that it’s really likely that their offspring will carry that as well,” she explained.

Cuevas said the scores also help guide the farmers as they raise goats for dairy or to later sell.

“The whole goal for us is to have strong milk goats, so we want goats that are going to hold themselves together and be able to give a good amount of milk over an extended amount of time,” Cuevas said. “That’s where all that showing became important, because they’re trying to judge which animals are going to hold up to the standards in your barn to produce strong offspring, to produce plenty of milk and stick around for a while.”

Even when other young farmers beat her to the prize at the national show, Madison Davis said she learned from her competitors about “What can I improve? What did they have that my goat didn’t?”

Like most communities with a niche common interest, many goat farmers chat on Facebook. At the competition, Cuevas and Sara Davis said they met breeders they have admired online for years in person or — in the case of their ADGA Permanent Champion goats — in the fur.

“It was kind of intimidating,” Cuevas confessed. “If you’re an enthusiast about anything, you’re going to follow the best of the best, right?”

When Cuevas and her 3-year-old sable goat filed in line for a show, she found herself behind an animal from Kickapoo Valley Dairy Goats in Illinois, a breeder who had sold her several goats.

“I almost turned right back around and left, because I was like, ‘What am I doing? I don’t belong behind this goat,'” Cuevas said, laughing.

But when the Illinois animal earned second place in the class and the judge called the goat’s name, Cuevas realized she was now raising the goat’s baby buck and was thrilled.

“It made me feel good … I know I’m investing in the right goats,” Cuevas said. “I can say, ‘Hey, I have a sire here, a son of the goat that got second place in the national show,’ and that’s a big deal.”

As a teenager, Madison Davis said it was inspiring to hear lifelong goat breeders encourage her to keep going.

When asked whether she sees goats in her future, the teen immediately answered, “Yes, no doubt.”

Given that the ADGA National Show hops around the country, Madison Davis, Cuevas and Thomas said they may consider competing again if the competition lands close enough to their barns.

For Cuevas, animals were not always the plan.

She grew up on a dairy farm in Cheshire and had her sights set on becoming an agricultural educator.

“I was going to be like the nature lady who used to bring in snakes,” Cuevas said with a laugh. “I wanted to be her.”

At around 16, Cuevas’ family lost their farm like many others nearby, sending her career path away from animals. She spent seven years working at Hillcrest Elementary School and 20 years at General Electric, where she sat in her office longing to get outside.

“And then I met Jim (Thomas) … We just made sense to each other,” Cuevas recalled. With a laugh, she added, “When I met him, I think he had 20 or 25 goats, and from there, it just went downhill.”

Although both Cuevas and Thomas started off as “cow people,” they have since changed their tune.

From babies to bullies to sweethearts and “herd queens,” as Madison Davis called her goat Misty, goats have a lot of personality, her mom said.

“They’re a mix between a toddler and a cat,” Madison Davis said. “If there’s trouble, they’re going to find it.”

Meeting eyes with her goat Music, whom she and Thomas named for her singing, Cuevas said, “They’re just weird.”

As if to punctuate her thought, another goat in the barn snorted as it gobbled hay.