A day at the Cass County 4-H Fair: Thomas switches from dairy to boer goats, finishes 2nd, 3rd

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Gage Thomas

LOGANSPORT — Gage Thomas switched it up this year at the Cass County 4-H Fair.

Thomas, who will be a senior at Caston and who is in his ninth year in 4-H, had previously raised dairy wether goats almost exclusively. This time, he showed boer wether goats.

He finished second and third in his two categories at the Boer Goat Show Tuesday.

He called the switch from dairy to meat goats a learning experience.

“I learned how to brace boer goats, something that I really never learned how to do,” Thomas said. “But (Caston schoolmate) Koiye Gibson and his mom Kayla Gibson, they showed me how to do that this summer. … It’s just the specific way you’re supposed to set up the boer goats. It’s different than all the other goat species. Usually, when you walk a goat into the ring, you just have to set up their back feet and their front feet and really open up their body, but for boer goats, you want to get their front feet off the ground and show off more of their muscle.”

Thomas was asked how much he has to practice his showmanship.

“It’s just one of those things you get better at the more and more you do it,” Thomas said. “A lot of judges are really good about pointing things out for you to learn and stuff to key in on.”

Thomas said one of his goats became ill right before the fair.

“I thought I’ve had a pretty good week so far,” Thomas said. “I had one goat that got sick right before fair, and he was able to get better, so that was nice to be able to just show him in general, and he ended up placing pretty well in his class.”

Thomas also showed meat birds at the poultry show Monday.

“It’s a lot of sitting around and waiting,” Thomas said. “Because it’s just one of those animals where you don’t really get to handle the bird unless you’re in showmanship, and I don’t really perform in showmanship, so the judge kind of handles them for you, and he tells you pointers and things to look out for, and meat birds – what I show – what’s really important is to try to find two identical birds basically so that includes weight, feet size, condition, all that stuff kind of factors in towards that.”

Thomas also spoke about how each animal’s diet can vary depending on how they grow.

“There’s specific feeds with different species,” Thomas said. “There’s obviously goat feed, chicken feed and whatnot, but also portions can be a big factor. For meat birds, what I show, pretty much getting ready towards fair, it’s kind of all-you-can-eat for meat birds. You’re just trying to fatten them up. As for goats, you have to really ration out their feed or else they can get bloat or they can get sick in general.”

Thomas is in his ninth year in 4-H, and he also plays basketball in the winter and golf in the spring at Caston.

“It’s definitely a load on time management,” Thomas said. “You can also learn a lot just by how you manage your time and certain things you commit to throughout the course of the year.”

Thomas was asked who is more unpredictable – basketball referees or 4-H judges.

“It’s probably going to have to be basketball refs,” Thomas said. “4-H judges are pretty by-the-book, but there’s obviously preferences. For goat shows, especially, some judges like to see some things on a goat more than others; just like basketball, sometimes they might give you a little bit more room to work in the post.”

Thomas is the son of Brent and Elizabeth Thomas of Twelve Mile.