RED DEER — At the age of 11, Wacey Townsend already has his farm plans mapped out.
Townsend, the owner of Xplosion Boar Goats, has built up a herd of 16 in two years and is already a successful exhibitor. He won grand champion with his mature buck and the showmanship award at the Alberta Goat Classic held in Red Deer during Westerner Days on July 21.
An active 4-H member with plenty of experience showing a variety of livestock from his family farm near Sylvan Lake, the goats are his sole enterprise that he started with a loan from his grandmother in 2009. He paid her back in full last year.
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His family owns registered Angus cattle, llamas, miniature donkeys and horses. He made room for the goats and working with his grandfather built a barn for delivering the kids and caring for the brown and white meat goats. He liked them from the start.
“I was down in Indiana and one of my friends had these goats and I thought they were really cool,” he said after the show.
He is raising mostly breeding stock but some are sold to Balzac Meats.
He is home schooled and his mother, Val, incorporates as much of the farm work into the curriculum as possible. Townsend uses his math skills for accounting and record keeping and she injects an impromptu science lesson when the veterinarian comes to call. Studying at home also gives Townsend time to work with his goats.
“It takes a lot of work, but I can get it done,” he said.
“I’m still expanding.In the next few years I want to get to about 40.”
Earlier this summer, he won a $1,000 scholarship at the Calgary Stampede’s Summer Synergy youth show and he plans to enter the goat show at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina next November.
The Alberta goat show was the only sanctioned Canadian meat goat show for the province with about 50 exhibitors, said Myrna Gisler, one of the show organizers.
The show had a large youth component where juniors and 4-H members could show off their goats. The children were between the ages of four and 15.
Part of a show’s purpose is to showcase the industry and educate those who are thinking about joining the business.
“We have a great amount of interest in new producers who are joining,” said Gilser.
