Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman proved he can milk both a goat and a pun for all it’s worth during Canadian Western Agribition.
Displaying a dexterity that surprised some, Wartman handily coaxed more milk out of a goat than Saskatchewan Party agriculture critic Lyle Stewart did during a celebrity milk-a-thon.
“I always said I’d be a hands-on minister,” Wartman quipped.
The minister gathered more than $1,000 in pledges for the event. He said he was honoured to have raised the most money, which went to the Agribition scholarship fund.
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“It’s awful hard to milk that out of some of my colleagues,” he said.
Stewart appeared apprehensive before the event began, saying it had been years since he had milked a cow and he’d never milked a goat at all.
But Wartman did have an edge – he’d been practising at a farm near White City.
Asked to reveal the secret of his success, he said warm hands and firm but gentle squeezing are key.
“You’ve gotta let the goat know that you care.”
The event included nine teams and was won by the mother-daughter team of Anita and Jessica Draper of Montmartre, Sask.
