posted Feb 16, 2012 8:35 AM by brian talbert
2012 Packgoat Project
Informational and Sign-Up
As the winter begins to wind down it is time to start
thinking about the 2012 Packgoat Project!
We have some exciting activities coming up and some changes to our 2012
fair program that I think everyone will be really pleased about.
Our annual information and signup night will be held March 11th this year, from
6:00pm to 8:00pm at The Common Market.
For new and prospective members, this is your opportunity to
learn all about the project. The
primary focus is on training goats for trail readiness and learning outdoor
skills for enjoyment of the backcountry.
In addition we work on training the goats for an obstacle demonstration
at The Great Frederick Fair. There
will be a short presentation at the meeting to outline the project and answer
any questions you may have.
In addition, we will provide details of a
Packgoat Essay contest being offered to eligible intermediate and junior 4-Hers. The
grand prize for the essay will be a spring-born Oberhasli wether!! But of course you need not even own a
goat to participate in the project.
Many 4-Hers have participated using the lease program to utilize a goat
owned by another member for as little as $1. |
posted Sep 20, 2011 5:10 AM by Frederick Packgoats
What a great weekend! Everyone did a fabulous job at the fair. It was great to see the level of performance rise so significantly across the board. There wasn't a single exhibitor that didn't show remarkable progress with their goat. Congratulations to Lyndsey and Rhiannon for taking the blue ribbons in each of your classes. It was well deserved of you both! Everyone represented the group and 4-H so well, interacting very nicely with the public and demonstrating that the packgoat group truly is the best group of kids in 4-H!
Grand Champion Rhiannon Reserve Champion Lyndsey
Advanced Standings 1) Blue - Rhiannon 2) Red - Levi Intermediate Standings 1) Blue - Lyndsey 2) Red - Kyle 3) White - Jenna 4) Yellow - Audrey and Kira 5) Green - Emily 6) Pink - Julianna
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posted Sep 5, 2011 1:26 PM by brian talbert
Less than two more weeks for the fair. By now you should have your vet certificates signed and ready to go, or have your vets scheduled to visit and sign off on health. Remember, the vet *must* use the new original triplicate forms and the yellow copy should remain with you. The reverse of this is your self-certification of health that you must complete. This year you do not have to take these forms to the Animal Lab on Rosemont. Check in for the fair will begin at 5pm on Friday. Do *not* bring your goats into the fair .. you *must* have either myself or Beth come to your vehicle to inspect your goat and paper work before entering!!! We may again be tight on space. Please only bring those goats that are showing or being used for Saturday night demonstrations. |
posted Aug 1, 2011 5:16 AM by brian talbert
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updated Aug 1, 2011 6:07 AM
]
Just across the Frederick County / Montgomery County park lies Little Bennet Regional Park. This park has quite a few trails, including several designated for horse use. Our group was able to hike with a Special Use Permit, though I'm hopeful that we'll work out an arrangement with the park for a more permanent access arrangement.
This particular hike was a loop beginning at the horse trailer parking area on Prescott Road. We began on Pine Grove Trail on the north side of the Parking area, which connected us to Timber Ridge Trail, heading South-East. West onto Browning Run Trail with a connection to Wester Piedmont and then back to the Parking area via Dark Branch Trail.
Overall, the trails were in great shape and well maintained. Until Dark Branch Trail, the trails were well marked and intersections pretty obvious. Dark Branch, though, needs some blazing as there are a few unmapped intersections that could lead you astray. Luckily, the trail was more or less a straight shot towards to the parking area so with a bearing back to our start, we could determine which trail made the most sense.
In all, the hike was an easy to moderate 4 mile hike with minor elevation change and good trail surface.
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posted Jul 17, 2011 5:36 AM by brian talbert
Online Fair Registration is OPEN. The deadline for registering is July 31st, with no exceptions being made. Please get your registrations submitted as soon as possible!
Remeber, class designations are not the same as for other (non-livestock) 4-H events, you register your class as follows:
E. Class Designations
a. Novice: First packgoat showing for both goat and exhibitor;
b. Intermediate: Goat and/or exhibitor have at least 1 year and not more than 3 years experience packgoat showing at the GFF;
c. Advanced: Goat and/or exhibitor have par%cipated in a packgoat show at the GFF 3 or more years prior to current year.
If you are unsure about any of the rules or have questions, please email or call me to discuss before registering. You can view the full set of rules for entry by navigating to the Project Documents area using the sidebar and viewing the 2011 Fair Rules document. |
posted Jul 11, 2011 4:32 AM by brian talbert
Check your email for details. We'll be hiking in the area of the Worthington Farm, covering the Ford Loop Trail and the Brooks Hill Loop Trail.
If you'd like to learn a little more about this area of the park before the hike, be sure to check out the summary of the battle movements:
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posted Jul 11, 2011 4:25 AM by brian talbert
The 2011 Ohio Rendezvous was a great success. Packgoat enthusiasts traveled from Indiana, West Virginian, Ohio, and of course Maryland to enjoy a weekend of camping and activities. There were some spectacular goats in attendance, including a couple of very seasoned cart goats. Structured activities including a visit from a story-teller, demonstrations for park attendees, an introduction to geocaching, and demonstrations of dutch oven cooking. Of course there was plenty of hiking, and free time to simply explore park, go swimming, and just hang out. It was a lot of fun, we're already looking forward to next year!
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posted May 15, 2011 3:30 PM by brian talbert
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updated May 16, 2011 5:11 AM
]
The forecast wasn't great to begin with: 80% chance of rain. But it was warm, so a hike in the rain wouldn't be terrible. In fact, every opportunity to get on the trail and expose yourself and the goats to new experiences is always good, as long as it is safe. Unfortunately, not far into the hike on this one the thunder began picking up and so we made the decision to cut it short. We'll play in the rain but not lightning.
Below is another EveryTrail gadget with mileage and GPS trail information. And some fairly poor photos .. due to the rain I was only taking them from my GPSr (it's waterproof).
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posted Apr 23, 2011 1:21 PM by brian talbert
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updated Apr 23, 2011 1:32 PM
]
Below is a gadget created using Every Trail, a web and iPhone app that can combine GPS tracks along with photos, allowing you to create your own hiking guides or diaries. The conditions for this hike were just what we were looking for; it was a nice, cool day, after quite a bit of rain and so there was plenty of opportunity to get the goats wet! Everyone (goats and handlers) did a great job!
If you click through to EveryTrail, you'll see an interactive map showing (roughly) on the map where each photo was taking. It also will show some stats from our hike: how far we hiked, average speed, ascent/descent, and more. Pretty cool! |
posted Apr 9, 2011 2:28 PM by brian talbert
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updated Apr 23, 2011 9:01 AM
]
Once again we participated in the annual Alice Ferguson Foundation's Potomac River Watershed Cleanup. We had 14 volunteers with 4 goats helping out. In total, we collected:
- 10 bags trash
- 5 bags recyclables
- 8 tires
- 20 lbs non-bagged bulk trash
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