Green River girl shows goat at fair

Making sure every hair is in place and shining for the judges is just one of the things Kamilyn Lloyd does.

Well, for her goat anyway.

Kamilyn, a 13-year-old Green River resident, was getting excited to show her 8-month-old boer cross goat Katlyn at Wyoming’s Big Show last week. For Kamilyn, this was her second year showing a goat at the fair.

One of the most stressful parts of the entire fair week was making sure her goat was prefect for showmanship and market 4-H competition. Kamilyn, who is a member of the 4-H club Project Hope, was trimming her goat’s hooves, washing her and shaving her.

“We always wash her before we shave her because the dirt sets in the fur,” Kamilyn said. “It’s fun washing them, but it’s fun to walk them around.”

If the goat isn’t washed prior to trimming the fur, the clippers get all blocked up. Kamilyn said it is just easier for her and Katlyn.

The judges want to be able to look at the animal closely to see how good it is for market, which is one of the reasons the animals are so clean.

“It makes your goat look more presentable,” Kamilyn said.

Caring for her goat at the fair is a full-time job for Kamilyn. So much so, the family decided to park their camper at the fairground’s campground. In fact, a lot of Green River residents and other fair participants, who lived outside of Rock Springs, were doing the same thing.

Kamilyn checks on her goat at least four times a day when the goat is at the fair.

“It makes it a lot easier then traveling back and forth,” Kamilyn’s mother, Heidi Lloyd, said.

Kamilyn said she is the only one allowed in her goat’s pen while Katlyn is at the fair. If there is an emergency, she is the one who will have to respond to it.

“It’s better to be a minute away, than 15 minutes,” Katlyn said.

That’s not the only challenge, Kamilyn and Katlyn faced this year. Heidi said they will have some explaining to do for the judges. Kamilyn’s goat was born a boy, but due to urinary problems, Katlyn had to have a surgery, which made her a girl. The goat was entered as a girl, but doesn’t urinate like one.

“I bet this is the first transgender goat at the fair,” Heidi said.

What happened was Heidi and Kamilyn were feeding the goat food that was flavored with molasses. The sugar in the molasses was too much for Katlyn and the urethra started to close. They had no choice but to have the surgery done. After learning about the feed, they quickly switched the goat to a different goat feed.

One of Kamilyn’s concerns for her goat at the fair is keeping her from eating sawdust. According to Kamilyn, her goat could get really sick from eating it. That’s the last thing she would want to happen to her goat. She worked hard feeding Katlyn and getting her ready for the fair. To enter a goat, the minimum weight is 60 pounds, Katlyn weighed in at about 107 pounds.

To prepare for the fair, Kamilyn started walking her goat, which she bought from a goat farm in North Dakota, when she was four or five months old. She would visit the 4-H barn at the Green River horse corrals a few times a day to train her goat.

“It helps with a sense of responsibility,” Heidi said.

Kamilyn does all of the choirs herself except carrying water to the goat. Heidi said the water buckets weigh more than her daughter so she carries the water over to the goat.

At the end of the fair, the goat is auctioned off to the highest bidder.

“It’s kind of a little upsetting,” Kamilyn said.

“Last year, I cried,” Heidi admitted. “But she said ‘Mom, we knew it was going to happen at the end.”’

Heidi said it helped knowing the meat from last year’s goat went to a homeless shelter. Just knowing she helped feed people who normally wouldn’t have had food really helped accept the goat’s fate.

The money made at the auction is used to purchase a goat and food for the following year and the rest goes into Kamilyn’s college fund.

 

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