Bluff Country Classic to enter new hands

HOUSTON, Minn. — Over 90 years of age, limited mobility and decreased eyesight did not limit Marjorie “Marge” Kitchen from putting on the Minnesota Goat Ladies Bluff Country Classic dairy goat show alongside her compatriots, Karyl Dronen, Emily Thompson, and Doug and Mary Thompson, in September.

“(There is) the self-satisfaction, because you made all these people happy, and it makes you feel proud that you got this accomplished,” Marge said.

However, everyone in the group, except for Emily, are in their 70s, 80s and 90s, so they have decided to pass on the running of their show next year to the younger generation.

“We’re too old,” Marge said.

The Minnesota Goat Ladies have been putting on the Bluff Country Classic in Houston since 2007.

The show, which is held two weekends after Labor Day, is an American Dairy Goat Association-sanctioned event with four shows.

“Generally, people come in Friday night and stay till Sunday noonish,” Mary said. “There’s time to really visit … and just strengthen friendships.”

Community spirit, the organizers said, is a big part of the show.

“Everybody says it’s their favorite show of the year, because we have all the social aspects,” Mary said.

Doug agreed.

“People like it because of the conviviality,” he said. “It’s competitive with the animals, but there doesn’t seem to be quite the tension.”

This year, the show brought in about 310 dairy goats, spread across eight ADGA recognized breeds.

Each year, the show has a theme, such as Hawaii, the Wild West, Christmas, Minnesota Nice, German, or this year’s theme: Halloween.

The event matches the theme in various ways, whether it be the menu for Saturday night’s special dinner, or this year’s Halloween costume contest that had 30 participants.

One of the important aspects of the show for the group has been the top prizes for each breed. Karyl said they pride themselves on having special, fun prizes that are often handmade.

“We put a lot of effort in,” she said.

Some of these handmade prizes over the years have included handmade brooms, handmade rugs, hand-tooled metal yard art and hand-knit scarves. The year they had scarves as prizes, Mary matched the colors of the scarves she knitted to the breed’s rosette colors.

“Nigerian dwarf (colors) are black and yellow, (so) that scarf was made with black and yellow yarn,” she said. “Toggenburg (colors) they’re brown and white, and so … that scarf was brown and white.”

Marge, Karyl and Doug and Mary have all raised dairy goats for decades. The Thompsons currently have about 18 dairy goats: three bucks and 15 does. They raise French Alpines and Toggenburgs. They have had dairy goats for over 55 years. Though hobby breeders, the Thompsons have had national success and sell bucks to commercial dairy herds.

Marge got her first dairy goats in 1974 when her son wanted an animal for 4-H.

“First he started with (wanting) a horse,” Marge said. “Well, we didn’t have a place for a horse. Then he says, well, a calf. Well, a calf becomes a cow. And then finally he settled on, well, maybe a goat.”

Karyl raised Oberhasli goats for many years, with national wins to her name, however, at the end of her career, Karyl and Marge raised Nigerian Dwarf goats together. As of September, the friends have sold their herd, although they are still looking to sell five bucks.

The four friends moved to southeast Minnesota around 2006. Originally, the Thompsons lived near Bemidji, and Marge and her late husband, Earl, lived about 50 miles north of the Twin Cities. Karyl also lived in the same area as Marge.

The move came about, as Marge likes to say, “after eating goat cheese and drinking wine.” The friends had made a trip plan over cheese and wine to visit the greater Houston area. Then, while visiting, they decided they were interested in eventually moving to the area. After securing land and developing it for their goats and getting housing put up, the group settled down as neighbors.

The Minnesota Goat Ladies Bluff Country Classic show was born out of the move. Marge and Karyl had been part of Minnesota Goat Ladies while living in central Minnesota, where they had put on several shows.

“We just thought, ‘Well, just because we’re moving, (doesn’t mean) we still can’t do this stuff down here,’” Marge said.

The group decided on a fall show date to not compete with other shows.

“Typically, there are a lot of shows in the spring and summer, because people are anxious to get their goats out,” Mary said. “We took the fall because it was free. … It is pretty much the last show of the season.”

The show filled a void in their new community, Karyl said.

“It gave … an opportunity for other dairy goat breeders in this area to experience an actual ADGA show and a fun show,” she said.

Because of the lateness of the show, it is considered a fuzzy wuzzy show, meaning the goats are not clipped for the event.

In 2026, as Marge, Karyl, Doug and Mary are stepping away from the show, the name will remain nearly the same, except “Minnesota Goat Ladies” will be dropped from the beginning.

“People have just such a fondness for everything they want to keep it the same,” Mary said.

The four will continue to participate in the show and Minnesota Goat Ladies will continue in a different direction. The group is thinking of collaborating with ADGA to put a majority of their funds in an endowment for scholarships.

“We’re happy that those people are going to continue on with the show,” Marge said. “Then we can still keep our Minnesota Goat Ladies as a group.”