Creating a 4-H Fiber Club

by PBA Member Janet Tilp

So you have some Pygora goats and you have some youths who are interested in learning about Fiber Goats, whether they are your children or someone else’s children, what can you do? Start a 4-H Fiber Goat Club. It can give you an opportunity for your goats to get more handling and an opportunity for youths to learn about responsibility and skills in handling an animal. And it can be fun for all.

Where to begin. Go to your local 4-H Extension Office and ask if they have a Fiber Goat project club. If they do, ask if you can approach the leader or leaders to join their club with your youth and their goats. If you do not have children wanting to do the Fiber Goat Project, but you have goats available for leasing, talk with the leaders about how to get the word out there that you have some goats to lease to youths in 4-H. By leasing your animals to other youth, this allows them to care for an animal without being on a farm. There are a lot of kids who will jump at the opportunity to care for a large animal such as a goat.

If there are no Fiber Goat project clubs, you may have to join another goat club, such as a Pygmy Goat Club or even a Dairy Goat club. Any goat club will be a good start as general goat care will be the same for the youth to learn from. The only difference will be how you show your goats in a show. If you are new to the care of goats, learning from an established goat leader was a huge help for me. Once 4-H members learn about Fiber Goats, they may want to try another goat breed. I often had kids who had an auction animal and got tired of always selling their goats in auction, that they soon joined Fiber Goats because they got to keep the goat year after year.

Or you can create your own Fiber Goat Club. Please don’t feel daunted. There is always the 4-H agent who can help smooth things out and provide resources for you. There are also other leaders you can approach and ask for help. They are always willing to help. If there is a Livestock Advisory, I encourage you to join it to keep up on the latest learning opportunities, helping to provide learning workshops for the youth and preparing for the county fair. And be sure to encourage the parents to be available and help with snacks or just being the extra hands.

I want to encourage you to apply to become a volunteer/leader to help create a Fiber Goat project. They always need leader volunteers to lead clubs. Check with your local Extension Office to see what the requirements are. Usually you will need to fill out an application and

get a background check. Then there will probably be some training to learn about 4-H and how to be a leader/volunteer. You may also have to do this even if you are only offering the use of your animals.

When I lease my Pygora goats to a youth, I explain my expectations. They can choose their animal among the ones I deem appropriate for the youths starting at 10 years of age through 18 years. I keep the animals on my farm. I offer three options: 1) I charge $100 for the year if they do not come out to help clean the stalls; 2) $50 a year plus coming out at least one time a month to clean the stalls; or 3) free if they come out two times a month to clean the stalls. I always strongly encourage them to choose option 2 or 3 to get the full experience of owning the animal for the 4-H year.

They also must come out to trim their goat hooves four times a year, to vaccinate their goats, to shear their goat’s fiber and to fit their goat for fair or other shows they want to attend. I strongly encourage them to come out to the farm to work with their animal to have the animal get used to being handled as often as they can.

It has always been a very rewarding experience for me to see the youth learn and grow with their animal. They gain responsibility, self-confidence and many other skills with the care of an animal. You also get help when cleaning the stalls. It is a little slow learning the routine at first, but pretty soon they become pros. And the added bonus is that the goats being handled makes for more cooperative animals. You won’t regret the experience.

 I sincerely hope that you consider going to your local 4-H Extension Office to offer your expertise and your goats to 4-H members, as this creates future Pygora lovers that may get an opportunity to begin their own herd or to showcase the Pygora Goats to other people when at county fair. We need more Pygora owners and offering your goats to youth gives them an opportunity to grow in becoming a goat owner as well as gain responsibility and skills in caring and handling animals. You get better behaved goats and it can be fun for all.