Boulanger raises FFA grand champion/supreme reserve champion goat

Cassidy Boulanger showed a goat at the San Diego County Fair's market livestock show, which was chosen as the Future Farmers of America grand champion goat and then the supreme reserve champion goat.

Boulanger raised as well as showed Stimpy, a male Boer goat who weighed 65 pounds when placed on the fair scales.

Boulanger, who completed 11th grade last month, joined Fallbrook High School's FFA chapter as a freshman. She had not been involved in 4-H prior to becoming a Fallbrook FFA member but assisted Fallbrook 4-H member Emily Schmierer. "My best friend did 4-H, so I was always with her," Boulanger said.

Schmierer, who also completed 11th grade in June, is now also in Fallbrook FFA. She was responsible for Boulanger joining FFA. "She really convinced me," Boulanger said.

Boulanger is a lifelong Fallbrook resident. When she was 6, she had goats as pets. "We just had then in our yard," she said.

Schmierer, who raised and showed a 259-pound pig for this year's county fair, also raised swine during her 4-H years and Boulanger assisted with those pigs, but Boulanger chose to raise goats as a 4-H member. The FFA barn at Fallbrook High School breeds its own goats, and when the goats were born in December 2018, Boulanger took a liking to them. "I got to hold one," she said.

Not all FFA members raise animals for the county fair. "I wasn't even planning on raising an animal until those little babies were born," Boulanger said.

The FFA goats are raised at the school rather at the students' homes, but raising an animal involves a time commitment. "I had to convince my parents to let me raise one," Boulanger said.

The students and/or their families have the financial responsibility of feeding the animal. That money is usually recovered at the county fair auction or at a barn sale. FFA and 4-H students develop a business plan, and that includes finding a buyer for the auction or barn sale.

As a freshman, Boulanger raised a 69-pound male goat. Greg Caso agreed to buy that goat at a barn sale, and Boulanger opted against the auction. "Goats are really hard to sell," she said. "In my eyes, it's more efficient to find your own person."

Although the coronavirus outbreak cancelled the 2020 county fair a virtual market livestock show and a virtual auction were held. Boulanger raised a goat Caso purchased at a barn sale.

Boulanger raised one goat in 2019 and one goat in 2020. "This year was my first year I raised two," she said.

Both of those goats were male Boer goats. Boulanger named them Ren and Stimpy. She also negotiated a purchase commitment from Caso. "He was going to buy both of them and I ended up doing well," Boulanger said.

Although Boulanger only raised two goats to show, she oversaw the FFA herd which included approximately 10 mothers and 10 babies. Fallbrook FFA advisor Doug Sehnert asked Boulanger to take care of the herd in August 2019.

Boulanger accepted the opportunity. She takes care of both the mothers and the babies, and her duties include the provision of medication.

Normally FFA students begin raising goats in March. Ren and Stimpy were born in December 2019. "I raised both of them once they were born," Boulanger said.

The goats were thus 6 months old when shown at the county fair. Ren weighed 84 pounds.

This year the market livestock show was in person although the June 26 auction was virtual. In past years the market livestock animals have been divided into weight classes. This year there were classes based on weight but no official weight classes. The goats were divided into twelve classes with Ren and Stimpy initially competing in different classes June 23.

Stimpy and Ren both won their classes. "It was very unexpected," Boulanger said.

Neither of Boulanger's previous goats had won their class. "I'm very new at this and other people have been doing this since they were like 4, so it was needless to say very surprising," Boulanger said of having two class winners.

Later that day, the 12 FFA class winners competed for FFA grand champion and FFA reserve champion. Stimpy received the top FFA honor. "He barely made weight, so I just thought he was barely going to make it through the whole thing," Boulanger said.

(The minimum weight for market livestock goats is 65 pounds.)

"I worked with him every single day," Boulanger said. "It was very rewarding to get that far."

A new Grange chapter participated in this year's county fair. The Grange had been inactive at the market livestock show for several years, and in past years any Grange exhibitors competed in the 4-H division. This year there was a separate Grange division.

East County Grange member Karstin Wagner raised a 105-pound goat which won Grange grand champion honors and an 82-pound goat raised by East County Grange member Blaine Shugart was the Grange reserve champion. The East County Grange is based in Alpine and was chartered in October 2020.

The FFA grand and reserve champions, the Grange grand and reserve champions, and the 4-H grand and reserve champions competed for supreme grand champion and supreme reserve champion distinction June 24. Wagner's goat was selected as the supreme grand champion. Stimpy was chosen as the supreme reserve champion.

"I was very happy," Boulanger said. "Getting top two goats overall, that was crazy to me."

Boulanger and Ren competed in the showmanship competition and took fifth among the 11 entries in the advanced senior division.

Southern Contracting Company, which is based in San Marcos, purchased Stimpy at the auction for $500. If a person wishes to donate money to a specific exhibitor but does not wish to purchase an animal, he or she can contribute what is called an add-on amount, and Boulanger received add-ons of $125 which gave her a total of $625 for Stimpy. Caso purchased Ren for $500.

Boulanger plans to raise goats for the 2022 county fair, and she is also contemplating raising a steer.

Raising the goats as babies complemented Boulanger's success at the county fair. "A lot of people don't get to do that," she said. "I was lucky enough to be able to have the opportunity."