A fair judge ... of goats and sheep

If ESPN ever decides to air goat competitions, Allen McElroy could turn out to be the Dick Vitale of show judges.
McElroy, who travels around the country to judge goats and sheep at various fairs, had nothing but kind words and encouragement for the young contestants and the quality of their goats Saturday during the Jackpot Wether Goat Show in the barn at the Augusta County Fair.
During the judging rounds, McElroy took his time analyzing each goat — examining them visually and by hand before describing their characteristics.
“First impression, when I put my hands on this goat, I kinda fell in love with him, in this class,” McElroy said in describing a first-place goat with “a great handle to him.”
Of the second-place goat, he appreciated its quality, but “I just wanted to clean him up and fix him a little bit over the shoulders.” The other goats in that category had “good structure” but gave up “a lot of power [and] a lot of muscle” to the top two goats.
Still, he mixed tips with praise for the contestants.
In judging lambs and goats headed for the market, he said he generally looks for the same things.
“We’re looking at muscle shape, because they are a product that we eat, rib shape, because if you have rib, you’re going to have a lot of muscle, and through that top area in the front end, we don’t want no waste,” McElroy said.
“We want ’em clean, with bone, because when you got so much muscle on ’em, they can’t walk around on toothpicks. They gotta walk on something bone, so we look for bone and structurally correct, and just mostly product.”
With July and August a big time for fairs, McElroy, who works at the agricultural farm and sheep center at Virginia Tech, has traveled extensively judging goats and sheep and puts on clinics on how to feed, select and prepare animals for shows.
He said what he found at the Augusta County Fair stacks up to what he’s seen this year around the country.
“I’ve seen a bunch of ’em in different states, and any of these here will compete with anything throughout these other states,” he said. “I’ve seen good quality here today, and most of all, a great group of kids.”
McElroy ticked off an arduous schedule for the rest of August, traveling to fairs in Kentucky and Iowa, as well as delivering lambs to Mississippi and ewes to Maine – “eat some lobster when I get there.”
“I might sleep the whole month of September,” McElroy said.
But first there’s his on-air pitch.
“It’d be nice if we get on ESPN just one time – [especially] with the Brett Favre stuff,” McElroy said. “Get on ESPN and then talk about the show, that’d be cool.”