Free Beer, Dancing Girls and BBQ and any show that excludes or has a public hanging of Wes Hallman.

We also like to win cash, door prizes, etc.  It kind of makes the trip expenses a little easier to handle.  Facilities are a big plus.  Time of year is always a factor for us, too.  If we are going to take off work and drive to a show, we want it to be worth our while, maybe 2-3 shows, instead of just one.

We also like the cash prizes and good facilities, and more than one show. This helps make it worth your while if you can have a chance to win back a little premium money (may not pay for all expenses), but certainly helps if you are lucky enough to get paid in the 1st-5th place. We have experience with three different shows, one each day of a weekend and or two in one day, and have offered cash prizes. This not only draws larger participants, along with having good honest judges, which is becoming very important also, but numbers in classes helps towards ennoblement points, which is very important to many! We have talked to many lately,that due to the economy, they will not attend any more shows, unless there is cash prizes involved !

Once upon a time, I belonged to all three Boer Goat Associations. The USBGA for one year, the IBGA for three. I joined the IBGA to be able to show at their sanctioned shows, and between them and the ABGA could show nearly every weekend if I wanted to. And it was a little less competition at the IBGA Shows, or at least appeared that way to me. But I slowly came to the conclusion that there were two different sets of politics to deal with, and two different sets of "mind sets". The IBGA, in my mind, turned into a place for folks who got crossways with the other associations to go to, and were welcomed with open arms. They got into financial trouble, and I decided that one strong association was the answer, and that association was/is the ABGA, not necessairly be cause it was the best as far as showing, but because of its registry. In spite of the many short comings of the ABGA, the Registry, for the most part is alive and well. Just this last week, they caught a mistake I made (after having my application for a month) that I would never have believed they would have caught.
For the folks who have kids and grandkids that are  really into the goats and the shows, my hats are off to you. For those of you who are using the Juniors and the Junior Program as just another marketing tool, shame on you.
In the ABGA, I would hazzard a guess that a majority of the Board has a vested interest in the Enoblement Program, and are involved in breeding ,showing, and selling offspring of enobled animals.Why would they be interested in teaming up with IBGA for anything? Contact your director and see where he or she stands on this. I know where mine stands.
And lastly, the Belton Show was a disaster. Last year was good, this year was not. It was late starting, and due to this, was late in ending. Some folks entered in both shows left after the first show because of this. The only bright spot were the few classes that had enough competition in them to be seriuosly considered competition. Some had at least five or six animals that on another day under another judge could have won the blue.
It is a real challange to choose two Judges that the majority of the contestants will feel are fair, non political, and impartial. Attendence is a pretty good guage of whether or not the right judge was selected.

Don

Historically, if you research and evaluate the Show data in regard to IBGA Shows you will find there is less interest, lower numbers, incompetent Judges, decreased quality and less competition. I cannot think of one positive incentive to show in an IBGA Show;therefore it would be a total waste of time & money to the show promoters. Your research results will also prove that an any IBGA show that  follows an ABGA will lose money as most Exhibitors will leave after the ABGA show as not to degrade their show strings and invite ridicule and shame to their herd. As an exhibitor, the only real incentive to show, is if your looking for an easy win for marketing results. Point in case: IBGA Nationals. Then again the goat masses have no respect for an IBGA win;therefore, it is pointless. These are the facts and they are indisputable.