Greetings to everyone. Want to share my family information with you. My wife Cathy and I have been married for 32 years. Cathy is the Senior Vice President at Marion State Bank. We have two children- our son Justin- 30 yrs old- took my place at Marion High School as the Agricultural Science Teacher. Our daughter Keli- 26 yrs. old- is a second grade Teacher in Schertz, Tx. We have one grandchild- Jackson – 20 months- proud parents are Justin and Andrea.
We own a small farm between Marion and New Braunfels. We started raising boer goats to produce show wethers in 2001 after Keli graduated from High School. Both of our children exhibited steers, heifers, market lambs, a few pigs and a few broilers during their 4-H and FFA careers. I exhibited steers and turkeys during my High School years.
I taught Agricultural Science at Marion High School for 29 years. During my tenure, I supervised cattle, sheep and goats. Over the years, I trained just about every type of leadership team and judging team in the FFA. Livestock Judging, Meats Evaluation and Parliamentary procedure were my favorites. I trained State winning FFA teams in Livestock judging, Parliamentary Procedure and Ag. Mechanics.
After I retired, I managed a Purina Country Store in La Vernia Texas for almost two years. During this time I met the Purina team and started putting on clinics for show goats and show lambs. After a few presentations, I was invited to participate as a Purina Ambassador for goats.
I am currently working as a Sales Consultant for CEV Multimedia selling curriculum materials to Career and Technical Teachers. Not back in education (my true passion), but back working with Ag Teachers keeps me connected.
Hot and dry in Central Texas. I recently read an article that explained that we are in the worst drought in 50 years. The majority of the livestock, especially cattle, have all been sold. We are still maintaining our small herd of 40 Boer does. There is no grazing, so we are feeding Noble 16 to the does along with protein molasses tubs and sudan hay.
The show wether prospects and doe kids are on full feed utilizing creep feeders and Honor Show Chow N-Timidator. We have sold the majority of the show wethers, just a few June kids left. I am supplementing the wethers with High Octane Power Fuel to add finish.
We produced several outstanding show wether prospects this year. In Texas, we have prospect shows all summer and fall. With our wethers being born April-June, they are not ready to show until the fall. Many of our exhibitors with be getting their goats out for the first time to see how they match up to the competition. I recommend that they try to get them out and show them at least 6 times during the fall. This gets the goats trained to travel and show and gives them an idea how to feed and fit.
Our County show in Guadalupe County is in the middle of January. Then it is one Major Stock Show after another from January to April. The Major shows are terminal for wether goats. The majority of the kids show and sell a premium at their County stock shows and then go on to one of the Major shows.
I look forward to meeting new people and visiting new places while I work with the Purina crew. Please visit my website at
www.texasshowgoatconnection.com.