Stories of the fair: Blue ribbon chase
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on October 1, 2016 10:09 PM
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With an intensity rarely seen in a competitor of her age, India Young, center, steadies her goat, Levi, as the judge inspects them during the Meat Goat Show at the Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair o
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Mikihal Specht with her goat Lainey before the Meat Goat Show at theWayne County Regional Agricultural Fair on Friday eve
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First place winner India Young with her goat Levi during the Meat Goat Show at Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair on Friday night. This is her fourth consecutive win with Levi.
Wayne County didn't have a lot of entries in the Open Junior Meat Goat Show at the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair on Friday night but the handful of contestants walked away with an impressive number of ribbons for their performance.
India Young, 11, won the Junior Division Showmanship Award, which, along with recent victories in Pitt, Lenoir and Wilson counties, put her atop the circuit points standing.
Payton Williams, 9, captured second place in the Novice Division. She won the points title a year ago.
And in the Senior Division, it was a competitor from just down the road -- Rachel Murphy of Four Oaks -- who took home the blue ribbon. She also leads the points standings going into the State Fair later this month.
Rachel, 17, a student at South Johnston High School and the daughter of Dan and Lisa Murphy, is a veteran showman. She's been showing animals for nearly six years. Her goat was named Thelma Lou.
"I love the competition and making friends with the other competitors," Rachel said afterward. Her family operates Murphy Show Goats and she helps mentor other, younger competitors in the art of the ring.
"I really want to raise a great crop of kids to take my place," she said.
India is the daughter of Sandra and Dale Young of Goldsboro and a student at Northwest Wayne Elementary School. She was nothing but intense during the competition, only smiling when she and her goat, Levi, came out with the blue ribbon.
"Being with him makes me happy," she said, describing the long hours of care and practice she puts in. "And I like to win." She has been showing goats for four years.
Her intensity in the ring even caught the judge's eye.
"She seemed very relaxed and poised," said William Morris of the Virginia Department of Agriculture. "But, boy, is she intense. She knows why she is here."
Payton was edged out for the top prize but seemed happy with her red ribbon. A student at Northeast Elementary, she named her goat Leap, not for his jumping ability but because he was born on Feb. 29. She is the daughter of Jenise and Dale Kirby.
Overrall, Morris said, the night's competition showed a first-class group of competitors.
"They were very impressive," he said, "even borderline elite on the quality of showmanship.
"I like to watch someone who is not trying to show themselves, but their animal," he told the crowd of nearly 200 in attendance. "They show smoothness and poise and don't look like they're really working."