Cancer Part Two

Today in Hamilton, Ohio, there are eight "candidates" taking the test to become licensed NPGA (National Pygmy Goat Association) judges. There forty-three licensed judges last time I counted, and about half of those are inactive to some degree.  We need more judges.  And boy, is it a tough test to pass.

There are four test classes: Junior does, senior does, junior bucks, and senior bucks.  The JTC (judge's training committee) picks the animals, places them, and then writes down their reasons.  We are scored on the following three sections:

1. Placings. Correct placement of the animals from 1st to 4th place.  NPGA uses the Hormel scale of judging which determines a point value for each animal out of order. It's complicated, but if the split between 1st and 2nd  is 2 points and you swap them in your lineup; you lose 2 points for moving 1st place down and 2 points for moving 2nd place up.   If the split between 1st and 4th is 20 points, and you put the 1st place animal last, you lose 20 points.  The theory is that animals which are fairly equal will have narrow splits.  And animals that are very structurally different will have larger splits, because you should know a really good animal from a really bad one.
2. Reasons.  After placing our lineup, we have to give oral reasons why.  For instance, "Number one is placing over number two for demonstrating more body capacity from the point of the elbow extending back into the flank.  She also has more correctly legs when viewed from the rear."  And, so on.  We receive points for each correct reason we give.
3. Presentation.  We have six minutes to judge our animals and put them into our lineup, Then we pick up the microphone and we  begin talking.   We are judged on our style and presentation. This is the only subjective part of the test.

The first year I took the exam, two people out of fourteen got their licenses.  The next year, four of us out of twelve got a license.  Last year, no one passed.  This year?  Who knows.

I really enjoy judging -- who knew?  Of course as I say: You ask me my opinion and then you give me a microphone to tell everyone? Ha!  What's not to like?

Two years ago I got my license.  Exactly one week to the day after I received my last chemotherapy treatment, I was in Georgia and passed my test.  Take that, Cancer!