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  • Rusty Crone , of Montour County, shows a midweight goat during the Junior Market Goat competition at the PA Farm Show Jan. 5 in Harrisburg. Amanda August/The Daily Item

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January 7, 2013

Montour teen's goat places sixth at state Farm Show

By David Bauder The Daily Item

HARRISBURG — By day, Rusty Crone learns how to weld. Other times, he learns how to trade in goats.

And on Saturday, he just missed out on a sale.

“They took the top five,” the 18-year-old from Montour County said after placing sixth in middleweight division of Market Goats at the Junior Livestock Show and Sale at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

He likes showing, Crone said, but he rubbed his fingers together.

“I like to make money,” he said with a knowing smile. “It’s harder to make this way sometimes.”

Crone, who attends Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School, was one of six young competitors from the Valley, among about 130 competitors in the Junior Livestock Show and Sale. This was his 10th Farm Show.

Others from the Valley in the show were Elizabeth Lauver, Rebecca Lauver, Gavin Herman and Jacob Weist of Snyder County and Hannah Imgrund of Union County.

The goats were judged on several things, including muscle tone and body weight. An ideal market goat must have muscle shape and a sound footing expression in movement.

“When showing market goats, it is a team effort by both the animal and the exhibitor, which is reflected on how the animal is presented,” said Ben Weikert, of Gettysburg, who judged this competition.

And he let everyone know they were excellent competitors who did an outstanding job, but most of their goats all fell short in one way or another. On some it was for weight, on others it was for body contour. On Crone’s goat, the loins were not big enough.

That saved his goat at least from a meeting with a butcher, and Crone took the near miss in stride. Showing and selling is something Crone said he’s done since he was 8.

His family owns Pine Hurst Acres in Danville, and he plans to work there when he graduates from school. In the meantime, he’ll try with more goats and hope a happy medium is out there between welding and showing goats.

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