A growing breed of livestock preserves an old way of life on a Sangamon County farm
Like an art critic judging a sculpture, Mike Earles leans back and places the end of his goateed chin between the raised thumb and forefinger of his left hand. His eyes narrow as he leans forward.
Meanwhile, his brother, Drew, pauses and steps back, too. He grips in one hand an electric hair clipper that buzzes like a swarm of angry hornets disturbed in their nest. Just outside the open-ended barn, the two young men closely eyeball the object of their attention that stands loosely restrained atop a knee-high platform. They silently note minor imperfections for tiny adjustments later, nodding appreciatively over the smooth lines and shape that makes it a possible blue ribbon winner.
The object is no manmade piece of art. It’s a 75-pound South African Boer Goat named Mistletoe, born the day after last Christmas at Thornridge, the Earles family farm in rural Mechanicsburg, about 10 minutes east of Springfield on I-72. This shortlegged, seven-month-old lass is being readied for the center ring in the Junior Livestock Building at the Illinois State Fair Aug. 15 to find out if she is indeed the fairest of them all, as far as female Boer goats are concerned.
Drew sees an uneven spot on Mistletoe’s coat, brushes away some barnyard flies swarming around his sweating forehead, and moves in with the clippers.
Zzzzzzwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrrtttt! Drew, 27, gently lifts the clippers and nods, satisfied. He looks up at Mike, 22. “Good,” Mike says, nods at Drew then turns to today’s visitors from the city. “I kind of rough ’em out. Drew is the detail man.” The Earles brothers are no strangers to the competitive world of livestock shows and life on the farm. Since they began showing Boer goats, they’ve accumulated an impressive list of wins, including the 2007 Illinois State Fair Grand Champion wether and two other Illinois State Fair champions.
Thornridge, with 40 head of goats, will show 10 of them at the upcoming state fair: two full-blood bucks — Rip Van Winkle and Contender — and eight does — Bertha, Hope, Cajun Queen, Annie Get Your Gun, Katie Wants a Fast One, Bo-Licious, Daisy Duke and, of course, Mistletoe. Mike’s wife, Melissa, shows most of the does, and the two brothers show the bucks and assist three junior exhibitors with their six show wethers (castrated males).
This warm Sunday summer afternoon’s assignment is Mistletoe, from her wedge-shaped block of a head to her short white tail. Her head and long, feminine neck are covered with a rough red-brown fur or hide. It seems as if she wears a hood that ends at her shoulders.
Her long, basset-hound ears seem out of place on a goat. Her signature goat’s beard is short compared to those of the rugged bucks elsewhere at Thornridge. Four tough two-toed hooves firmly plant Mistletoe on the trimming platform.
The rest of her ample body is stout and white, except for the random red-brown spot and the entire left foreleg of the same color.
