Alaska Mini Goat Cache
A club specializing in creating a safe place for all miniature goats
 

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Club News and Events

Nominations for 2012 Officers NOW OPEN - At the October 29, 2011 meeting, President Rayna Fritcher opened nominations for 2012 officers. For a description of the offices (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Webmaster, and Newsletter Editor) and the related duties, please see our Bylaws. Nominations may be submitted to secretary@alaskaminigoatcache.com, in writing to the club's mailing address, or in person at the next meeting on December 17. Please indicate the name of the member you are nominating, the office for which you are nominating them, your name, and your contact information for verification of membership. Members in good standing are eligible to make or receive nominations. Upon closing of nominations, ballots will be mailed to members in good standing. The election meeting is TBA.

 

Newsletters: available for download in free Adobe *.pdf format.
If you are a member in good standing and you would like a black and white copy mailed to you, please contact the newsletter editor to make this request.

November 2011 Newsletter:
   onscreen viewable format
   printable version - The printable version is designed to print double-sided, flipping on the paper's short edge.

December 2010 Newsletter:
   onscreen viewable format
   printable version - The printable version is designed to print double-sided, flipping on the paper's short edge.

November 2010 Newsletter:
   onscreen viewable format
   printable version - The printable version is designed to print double-sided, flipping on the paper's short edge.

September-October 2010 Newsletter:
   onscreen viewable format
   printable version - The printable version is designed to print double-sided, flipping on the paper's short edge.

January-February 2010 Newsletter:
   onscreen viewable format
   printable version

December 2009 Newsletter:
   onscreen viewable format
   printable version

Last election - JANUARY 8, 2011 results posted to the member page.
The next meeting for members in good standing will be:
2:00PM, December 17, 2011, call Rayna at 907.373.8082 for directions, Wasilla, Alaska.

What has your club done for you lately?

We have worked hard to recruit new members. Club members have personally promoted the club to people they meet and others join after reading our newsletter.
In the past couple of years, we've gained four new individual members and six new family members. Several more parties have also expressed interest in joining. Additionally, some past members have returned.

Our newsletter is now widely distributed and we have a couple of paid advertisers again, for the first time in a long time. Our Newsletter Editor, Heather F., has been writing and researching content for the past couple of years and encouraging input from the goat community nationwide. We had a lot of very positive feedback on the newsletter and it's a great outreach tool for members and non-members alike. It helps catch you up on club, community, and industry events and we share it with everyone we meet regarding goats. It's become very popular and it's a great way to stay in touch with the group!

We have gone out of our way to advertise as much as possible (using free sources). As a result, we have had more people than ever attend and participate in our events. We even helped advertise and support other clubs' events.

For our ADGA and AGS goat show at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer Heather Coleman was Show Secretary, Laura Manary was Show Chair, and Rayna Fritcher was on the Show Committee. Heather Fair also pitched in anywhere else needed, setting up an online entry site to collect entries and fees and sharing personal supplies. A fellow goat enthusiast from another club, Kathy Bryant, came to be our ring steward even though she wasn't showing any goats and she's not even a club member!

Our annual Obstacle Course for All Ages was also held at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. For the second year, Laura Manary and Heather Fair ran the event in its entirety. Heather Fair started the "Fair Skies Goats on Loan Program" in 2009 and continued it in 2010. Thanks to "Goats on Loan", we had over 30 entrants and made over $100, when we would have only had two or three entries from folks that had their own goats already on-site for the other goat events. We made countless new encounters with members of the public that would otherwise never have bothered to take a second look at a goat. It's probably our biggest event for recruiting and creating enthusiasm about our industry and it's great fun!

We have had SEVEN meetings this year and they have been great! We wanted to work earlier on nailing down show plans and get cracking earlier on ADGA Linear Appraisal and AGS Classification. Some of us joined both clubs so we'd have better cooperation between us.

Our club began work on returning to fundraisers and community outreach. We tried to schedule, but unfortunately we didn't have enough member participation to get off the ground. We're dedicated to continuing that work and we enjoy sharing our animals with the public and other goat owners in a constructive manner.

For the past two years, three of us spent a few days traveling to various farms to help them collect blood for disease testing.

We started a Facebook page!
No need to search, it has a dedicated link:
http://Facebook.com/AKMGC
We have over 125 loyal followers and many more that check in from time to time.
Update: the Facebook page has been disabled for now

We have a new website for the club:
http://AlaskaMiniGoatCache.com
It also includes an online membership activation/renewal and show entry system.

We have a lot more we'd like to do in the coming year and we need your help!. Won't you join us? We even have an online membership application and we do accept PayPal!

http://AlaskaMiniGoatCache.com/join.htm


2010 events:



The next show sponsored by the Alaska Mini Goat Cache is scheduled for:
TBA - Last ADGA Show was at the Alaska State Fair, judge Tom Rucker
      click here to download the show results

August 27, 2010 - Last AGS Show was at the Alaska State Fair, judge Tom Rucker
      click here to download the show results


News for pygmy enthusiasts!

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: NPGA June 2011 Board Meeting Mini Report
From: "RAY LINDA SHIPLEY"
Date: Wed, July 6, 2011 1:14 pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi all,

I am going to be posting a report from the June Board meeting on the Region I chat list soon, but am sending this mini report to your club in case you have members that aren't on the chat list or if you wish to use it in your Newsletters.

The full minutes from the Agenda will be posted on the NPGA website as soon as they have been prepared and approved.

Let Mark or me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Linda Shipley,
Director, Region I

Attachment (report): http://alaskaminigoatcache.com/reference/NPGAJune2011BoardMtgDirRep.pdf

On March 3, 2011, the club received a message regarding the NCPGC's Nationwide Pride Futurities. The message relayed that "anyone in the Nation can play!" Download the two files about the contests here:

Futurity Contests Summary
Futurity Forms

For more information, visit the NC Pygmy Goat Club website or contact: Maggie Leman, Maggiedan's Minis or Lisa Salmi, Goatie Mountain.


Click here for Club ByLaws

Club dues are due! Have you renewed for 2011?

Click here to join the club

Members, don't forget to join the club's free Yahoo! discussion group so we can keep you in the loop on club happenings between meetings and events!

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These are some of the events we held in 2009. We would appreciate sponsorships to help us cover the costs of similar valuable events in 2010! Please contact us or come to our meetings to help us plan!

Get Happy! Alaska State Fair The last week of August in Palmer, we sponsored several goat events. Robyn McBride, Heather Fair, and Rayna Fritcher headed up the show committee for the State Fair. See the Get Happy! Event Results!


Summer Solstice Shows - June 24-25, 2009:
We sponsored a dual-ring, ADGA/AGS dairy goat show on June 24, 2009, judged by Gary Whitehead and Keith Harrell. The Whitehead show was co-sponsored by the Alaska Dairy Goat Association.

We also sponsored an AGS dairy goat show, NPGA pygmy goat show, and AGS classification by Keith Harrell on June 25, 2009. Three herds took advantage of this rare opportunity to have their qualifying stock classified! Laura Manary and Heather Coleman headed up the show committee for the June show.

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Next educational and fundraising event TBA - We would love your ideas on what types of educational and fundraising events that might interest you. Please come to our meetings to help us plan! And don't forget to come to our shows and volunteer, watch, and learn! We always need more goat handlers and novices are always welcome!

4-H is a great way for kids to get to learn about many different projects from crafts to livestock. The Alaska Mini Goat Cache is proud to support 4-H kids! Click here to go to the Alaska 4-H website.


The Alaska Mini Goat Cache is also currently developing a youth mentoring program, including a program for youth that are not yet ready to own their own goat or cannot, for whatever reason, own and house their own goats at home. We are excited to encourage further youth involvement and invite your family to contact us or come to our meetings to learn more!


We aim to publish at least six newsletters annually. If you are interested in placing an ad or contributing to the next newsletter, please contact the Newsletter Editor, Heather Fair.

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