Wahl, Folks... It's all over but the shoutin'. And Terry and Ann Brock, Brock Boers, of Bertram, Texas, are doin' a lot of shoutin'!

The 2001 National Show in Lawton, Oklahoma, promised to be a big event and it didn't let the membership or the public down. From check-in until the final goat left the building folks were visitin', laughin', lookin' serious, lookin' surprised, lookin' satisfied, and generally enjoying themselves. In the show ring some goats seemingly came out of nowhere and finished near the top of their classes while several of the expected winners didn't even get to stay in the ring. And then there were the goats from Brock Boers...

Walking through the pen area the day before a show has always been my favorite way of judging goats - sure they look pretty out there in the ring but I think I can get a better measure of a goat before they get their Sunday-Go-To-Meetin' clothes on.
Standing on the other end of a lead rope fastened to Renoir, Brocks' recent acquisition, I was impressed by the goat's general conformation and how calmly he accepted my attention. Some goats just don't like to be messed with by strangers but this one really didn't care who I was - I guess he figured that he was the best goat in the barn so he'd just put up with us mere humans "Ooh"ing and "Ahh"ing over him.

The pens down the line from this fine specimen were also full of nice goats. Two does really caught my eye... The younger one, named Ash Creek Melodie, had one of the most feminine necks I've ever seen on a doe kid. The older one, FSE High Magic Dreamer from the Farmer's Stock Exchange, was as near to perfect conformation that I saw that day.
Terry and Ann are two of the nicest folks you could ever hope to meet or be associated with. They are very cooperative with us "press" types as well as being willing to share their goat knowledge with us when we're in our "goat breeder" mode.

Day one of showing, Friday, brought out some of the finest Percentage Boer does in the world! Schwartz Ranch, Claire Powell, Kallie-Harie Reds, and Ronnie & Gwen Carter took top honors in the kid classes with the Carter goat, RGC Jopee, being named Grand Champion Jr. Percentage Boer Doe and the Schwartz Ranch's EDSR-N509 taking Reserve.
The senior doe class winners were Kyran Larner, Bosque Valley Farm, Alton Fowler, and Sisters II. The Sisters II goat, "Molly" took both Senior and National Grand Champion Percentage Doe honors while Kyran Larner's entry, Lotta, was awarded both the Senior and National Reserve Champion banners.

The day ended late with the annual Membership Meeting followed by a fajita dinner and entertainment by the Comanche dancers. While the membership and visitors were enjoying the food and entertainment the Board of Directors was meeting in closed session to elect the new President and Vice President. Congratulations to Pete Warlick, the new President and to John Edwards, incoming Vice President. Another item on the meeting agenda was a presentation by Keith Smith of boergoats.com concerning the ABGA web site, http://www.abga.org. It was announced after the meeting that boergoats.com would assume the duties of webmaster for the ABGA web site effective immediately.

Day two, Saturday, was to have started at 8:00 a.m. with the Fullblood Boer Does but a logistics delay postponed the first class for almost an hour. When things did get started, though, the observers were treated to viewing some outstanding fullblood does. The kid classes were won by Claire Powell, Ash Creek Boer Goats, Kyle Lambert, and Brock Boers who's goat Ash Creek Melodie went on to be named Grand Champion Jr. Fullblood Boer Doe. Claire Powell's Powell/Holman 65W took Reserve. The senior classes began after a short lunch break. Brock Boers, E.G.G.S., Don Smith, and Albert W Ryals Sr. exhibited the class winning does. The Senior and overall Grand Champion was Joellen, owned by Don Smith, and Terry & Ann Brock's FSE High Magic Dreamer took both Senior and overall Reserve.

Sunday started out as usual for me... I was visiting folks in the barn when it suddenly occured to me that there were a lot of buck kids missing - Oh, yeah... They're in the show ring! I got there just in time to see Norman Kohls receive the award for Grand Champion Jr. Fullblood Boer Buck and Bill Ryals accept the Reserve Jr. Champion banner. Reading from my notes, here, since I wasn't watching... The class winners in the buck kid division were Sisters II, Claire Powell, Albert W. Ryals Sr., and Norman Kohls. The senior division classes were won by Marty Joe Powell, Silvergate Farms, Nelson Roach, and Brock Boers. The Grand Champion Senior Boer Buck honors went to "Renoir" of Brock Boers and the Reserve Senior award was won by Nelson & Karleen Roach's "Pistolero.

That's exactly the way the overall results turned out, too... Renoir was crowned the 2001 ABGA National Grand Champion Boer Buck and "Pistolero" is the 2001 ABGA National Reserve Champion Boer Buck.