By Nikki Burkhamer
Examiner Contributor
For Jaidyn Jackson, winning the grand champion market goat award at the Logan County Junior Fair show Thursday, July 10, has come as a result of her friendship with her goat “Johnny.”
The recent Riverside High School graduate was “absolutely ecstatic” after her win.
“Hard work does pay off,” she said. “If you are willing to put in the hours in the barn, get your goats ready, just make friends with them, then they’ll work for you, and it really shows.”
In the fall, Jaidyn plans to attend Bowling Green State University to study marketing. She gave some great advice to younger showmen.
“Honestly, I have a very good relationship with my goats. I want them to be my babies. His name’s Johnny, and he’s just been a great goat, he’s like a puppy dog.
“He doesn’t like very many people, because he’s shy, but his personality has just shown while we’re here at the fair and getting around all the people. He, now, loves people. He loves pigs, actually. I don’t have pigs, and he likes to stop and look at every pig in the barn. It’s funny, but he’s just a sweet boy.”
Kayla Tracey is another recent star of the Show Ring. She garnered the reserve grand champion market goat honors and also provided some insight on her winning formula.
“You just have to work really hard. And, once you’re in there, just make eye contact with the judge, let him know that you’re working hard with your goat, show them it’s front view, show them all the muscles, drive him hard, set his feet up, just try to make your goat look as good as it possibly can.”
Kayla didn’t roll into the barn at 10 a.m. each morning. She had to “wake up at like 6, and then we go to feed, water, and we work them. We give them hay, and then we go back around lunchtime to give them their lunch. We go home, and then we go back for their dinner. Then we work them there, feed them, water them and then give them hash.”
When asked what she meant by work them, Kayla said, “walking them around our barn, setting them up, driving them, and pretending my mom’s a judge.”
Savannah McClintick, who will be a sophomore at West Liberty-Salem High School, received the division two champion title for her market goat. She is involved in WL-S FFA, and she also belongs to The Riverside Hustlers 4-H group.
“It kind of feels like my hard work has paid off,” she said. “ I’ve been getting up really early in the morning- the late nights- and I feel like it’s finally paying off and I’ve been waiting all summer to show. I got to do that today, and I’m really excited.”
Receiving the reserve champion title in division 1 for his market goat is Savannah’s brother, Dalton. A member of Riverside Hustlers 4-H, he will be a seventh-grader at West Liberty- Salem.
He feels good about his win, and he said, “It seems that my hard work paid off with all of my late nights and my early mornings in the barn. My support system has helped me get this far. They’re my mom, my dad, Westfall Weathers and my sisters.”
Receiving the champion award for division 1 market goats was Brock Bates. A BLHS incoming freshman and Premier Livestock 4H member, he showed market goats for the first time this year.
“All the tired mornings, the nerves, the anger of having to get up so early… winning made all of that worth it,” he said.
He gave this advice to younger showmen, “Don’t give up if something is not going your way. If you have to change something, change it. Just don’t give up.”
Reigning 2025 Logan County Fair Queen Kayley Knox received the reserve award for division two market goats. Kayley is a member of Roots and Boots 4-H group and she will soon be a senior at Benjamin Logan High School.
“I definitely had a lot of early mornings, a lot of working in the mornings. That’s hard to do especially living 20 minutes away from the barn. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of time… hours a day, making sure that they’re walking eating just doing all of that and just working with them to try to get them as best as they can be.”
Lane Hollingsworth is a goat judge from the area with four years of experience. As a youth, he showed market goats, market lambs and some hogs at the Champaign County Fair. An alumnus of Graham High School, and he graduated from The University of Findlay with a degree in animal science. Hollingsworth owns and operates D and D Hollingsworth Boer Goats, and he has already traveled to five of Ohio’s smaller fairs this summer.
“I just recently got home from college and back on the farm raising goats. I do this kind of thing in my free time. I travel throughout the whole state of Ohio. This is the busy fair season, So, north south, east and west, I’ve been traveling all over judging county fairs,” he shared.
Junior Fair Market Goat Results:
Division 1
Class 1: 1st place Dalton McClintick, 2nd place Beatrice Warren
Class 2: 1st place Nahla Payne, 2nd Place Madeline Hamm
Class 3: 1st place Abigail Phillips, 2nd place Aubrey Wenger
Class 4: 1st place Brock Bates, 2nd place Baylee Knox
Division 1 Champion: Brock Bates
Division 1 Reserve Champion: Dalton McClintick
Division 2
Class 5: 1st Carter Crumm, 2nd place Paisley King-Fowler
Class 6: 1st place Kayley Knox, 2nd Place Ava Phillips
Class 7: 1st place Alivia James, 2nd place Beatrice Warren
Class 8: 1st place Savannah McClintick, 2nd place Cooper Hunt
Division 2 Champion: Savannah McClintick
Division 2 Reserve Champion: Kayley Knox
Division 3
Class 9: 1st place Jaidyn Jackson, 2nd place Kayla Tracey
Class 10: 1st place Kayla Tracey, 2nd place Nahla Payne
Class 11: 1st place Jaidyn Jackson, 2nd place Greyson Godwin
Class 12: 1st place Jayden Hoffer, 2nd place Greyson Godwin
Division 3 Grand Champion: Jaidyn Jackson
Division 3 Reserve Champion: Kayla Tracey
Grand Champion Market Goat: Jaidyn Jackson
Reserve Grand Champion Market Goat: Kayla Tracey
