Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Fair

The County Fair starts tomorrow.  It's a fun time for the kids and for the community.  It's something we have looked forward to every year.  But, this year I'm not feeling the excitement.  This year the timing seems bad.  Fall is here, it's getting cold, and we have a ton of stuff to do to be ready for winter.  School has started, and the kids have a pretty heavy academic load.  And then there is my brain.  It won't turn off right now.  It keeps throwing out questions like WHY?  Why would you shave your two best goats just as cold weather is arriving?  Why would you make them live for a week in a tiny pen and eat bad hay?  Why would you try to compete with people who raise one goat as a pet just for the fair, feeding it pelletized show food and never letting it out on grass?  What are your kids getting out of this experience?  You raise your animals one way (because it's best for the animal and for the land) and then you make your kids compete with them against other animals raised in a completely different way (a way that will produce the results the judge is looking for, but not a healthy, productive animal).  What's the message you are giving your kids?

It's going to be a long, bleak week.  I'll try not to inflict to much of it on the world in general, but ...

1 comment:

Barbee' said...

I wish I had some answers for you, Alan. Maybe explain to the children what's best for the goats, the dilemma, then let them decide if they want to continue with the showing; maybe they think it is still fun. However it works out, I hope you will have some photos of the children and their goats. I still have JJ and four or five little bottle stage kids on my refrigerator. Cute as can be.

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