Wisconsin girls contend at Grand Island

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Dairy goat enthusiasts converged on Grand Island for the American Dairy Goat Association National Show July 11-18. On the list of competitors were several junior exhibitors representing Wisconsin, including Megan Mosgaller and Addy Wille.

“It was really a great opportunity for me to be able to travel to the national show and take part in it,” Mosgaller said.

Mosgaller, a University of Wisconsin-River Falls student, traveled to the show as part of an internship with Cameron and Katherine Jodlowski and their Taylor Ridge Farm dairy goats.

“Dr. Katherine is a veterinarian, and I want to be a vet, so I do a lot of shadow hours with her,” Mosgaller said. “I help her a lot with our reproduction work. She and Cameron have been two very influential people in my journey with goats.”

Mosgaller said she took in as many experiences at the national show as she could.

“I went through the vet check with the Jodlowski’s goats and then I volunteered to help check other trailers in,” Mosgaller said. “That was really cool, watching the vets work and what needs to be done to make sure goats from all over had the proper health work to be at the show.”

Besides helping the Jodlowskis care for and exhibit their goats, Mosgaller said she took part in the youth contests, including a quiz and management contest, along with showmanship, where she placed second.

“Showmanship is my bread and butter,” Mosgaller said. “I love doing it, it’s been my favorite youth event since I first started showing.”

Preparing for showmanship requires a lot of work, Mosgaller said.

“The nice thing about dairy goats is that you shave them down all the way with a 10 blade, using different blades on the feet and ears,” Mosgaller said. “Then we wash them with whitening soap. We put hot pink flamingo vet wrap socks on my goat because her feet were white, to keep them clean. I don’t think she was really a fan of that, but it looked cute.”

Knowledge of both the goat and the industry plays a role in showmanship, Mosgaller said.

“You have to be able to look at a goat and know what you’d want to change about it, what its strengths are,” Mosgaller said. “The showmanship contest at nationals lasted two and a half hours. Cameron had told me it could go on for quite some time, but I had no idea it would take that long.”

Her national showmanship accomplishments are not her first showmanship success. Mosgaller was the supreme overall showman at the 2024 Wisconsin State Fair Youth Show, which led to her being named the show’s supreme exhibitor.

Mosgaller said she is already counting the days until her final national show as a junior exhibitor, next summer in Massachusetts, where she will perhaps be exhibiting one of her own goats.

“I have been having some success at the shows,” Mosgaller said. “My doe, Early Rise Acres Calling Card Gemma, has been a 2-time reserve champion at the Wisconsin State Fair Youth Show and also at the Heart of Indiana Show two years ago. She is the reason I’ve gotten more serious about showing.”

Along with her family, Mosgaller has 50 goats that have grown from a 4-H project she started in 2019.

“The herd belongs to me, my mom and my cousin, and we each have a breed,” Mosgaller said. “I am a Toggenburg lover. That is my breed and my Tog herd has gotten really big. I’m also a sucker for Alpines, so I’ve helped my mom with her Alpines a lot.”

Wille was another Wisconsin exhibitor. She is a senior at Holmen High School. She owns Double Back Goats with her family, where she has 26 head.

“When I was 11, I got my own goat, after helping on a family friend’s farm,” Wille said. “It sort of spiraled out of control from there, especially during the pandemic because we were just home hanging out with all the baby goats.”

The Willes feed most of the milk produced by their does back to their kids. They also raise feeder pigs and make soaps and lotions to sell.

This year’s national show marked Wille’s second trip to the event, and was the sixth show she has been to this year.

“This year we really stepped it up in terms of quality and placings,” Wille said. “Last year was more seeing what it was about, meeting the people. This year we came with the intention of competing.”

Wille and her family are developing a breeding herd of Oberhaslis, LaManchas and recorded grades that are crosses of the two breeds. Wille competed in the youth management quiz and the judging contest, where she placed fifth in the senior division. She exhibited seven goats in total, and were awarded premier youth breeder honors in the recorded grade show.

“My junior kid, she was sixth in her class of 30, which was pretty exciting,” Wille said. “And winning premier youth breeder, that was really amazing.”

Wille is working with a local veterinary clinic in an apprenticeship program, while determining her future direction.

“I definitely want to do something in the animal sciences,” Wille said. “I plan to continue developing my herd of goats. We’re focusing on quality over quantity right now.”

The experiences she has had since becoming a dairy goat breeder Wille said she values greatly. She said she would encourage other youth to also start dairy goat projects.

“There are so many people in this industry who are willing and wanting to help youth, especially youth who are dedicated and want to compete,” Wille said. “Never be afraid to just reach out to people, to ask questions. … They almost always want to share their own passion. Making those connections is probably the most important thing you could do.”