The "Golden Goat"

By Holly Martin

GOLDEN GOAT WINNERS--High Plains Journal staff members pose with the Golden Goat, emblematic of the championship of the 2008 Kansas State Fair Celebrity Goat Milking Contest held recently at Hutchinson. The trio took second place in a series of heats then defeated Wichita radio station KICT (T-95) in the final round. The final round featured pygmy goats. The team of (pictured left to right) Doug Rich, Larry Dreiling and Matt May squeezed out one-tenth of an ounce of pygmy goat milk in the final 30-second round compared to five-one hundredths of an ounce for the T-95 team. Rich and Dreiling are senior field editors. May is retired as assistant circulation manager and still assists in subscription sales at fairs and farm shows. )Photo courtesy Kansas State Fair.)

Forgive me while I brag a little bit in this week's column. High Plains Journal won the coveted "Golden Goat" trophy at Kansas State Fair.

Now you may not think that winning a goat milking trophy is all that important. But you would be wrong. Maybe it is because I am an old dairy girl, or maybe it is because I helped on the Kansas State Fair cow milking team several years ago, but we've had a bit of drought as far as milking contests go.

Senior field editors Larry Dreiling and Doug Rich, along with our retired circulation manager Matt May, were victorious for the first time since the contest was switched from cows to goats.

You may not realize it, but the greatest asset High Plains Journal/Midwest Ag Journal has is the people who bring this publication to your mailbox each week. From the receptionist who knows the difference between a planter and a drill because she and her husband own both, to the graphic artist who takes her work home to run it past her farmer husband, just to make sure we are on the right track. I like to think on-farm experience gave us an edge when we competed in a milking contest. It doesn't hurt when writing stories that are important to farmers and ranchers either.

The Golden Goat trophy isn't the only award that our editors have received in recent weeks. At a recent meeting of agricultural journalists, Journal writers, designers and photographers took home several important recognitions. In fact, seven staff members won a total of 23 different awards.

The awards are nice and we will display the Golden Goat with pride over the coming year, but what really counts to us is what you--our readers--think about the job we are doing. I hope you find we are a source of balanced and essential information for your business and you will continue to share your valuable time reading what we write.

That's the kind of reward that means more to a bunch of farm kids turned editors than anything else.

9/22/08
6 Star Midwest Ag\4-B

Date: 9/17/08

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