By Brenna Eller
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Kansas Board of EMS “Goat Busters” took home the first place trophy for the Celebrity Goat Milking Contest at the Kansas State Fair Sheep, Swine and Goat Building on Friday. The Runner Up team was the Hutchinson Fire Department.
The Church of the Holy Cross and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, who won the competition the past two years was unable to keep their winning streak this year. The contest had a record number of ten teams competing and the Fathers got beat out by the Reno County Commissioners.
Also competing this year were the Chamber of Reno County (Hutch Chamber), the U.S. Army, the Army National Guard, US Air Force, Hutchinson Fire Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, State Fair Board and Kansas Board of EMS.
The goats were provided by youth 4-H members who were present to keep the goats stable while the contestants milked them.
The first two teams to go up against one another were the Reno County Commissioners and the Hutch Chamber. The Hutch Chamber got to choose their goat first and picked a less than cooperative option. Since the first round was a “play in” round, the Reno County Commissioners went on to compete in the next round against the U.S. Army.
The County Commissioner team (Chairman Daniel Friesen, Vice-Chairman Randy Parks and Don Bogner) stayed in first place for multiple rounds, competing against the Holy Cross and Our Lady of Guadalupe team, the Kansas State Fair Board and then the Commissioners got to take a break while the rest of the bracket was determined.
After the milk buckets were weighed, the Hutchinson Fire Department was determined the winner against the Kansas State Fair Board.
The Kansas Highway Patrol took on the Army National Guard and the Kansas Highway Patrol won that round.
Then the Air Force lost to the Kansas Board of EMS and once the bracket was narrowed down to the final four teams, Reno County Commissioners, Hutchinson Fire Department, Kansas Highway Patrol and the Kansas Board of EMS, it finally came down to the remaining two teams.
In the finale, it was between the Kansas Board of EMS and the Hutchinson Fire Department, and to shake things up, the teams couldn’t choose their goat. Instead, they were brought two dwarf goats to make the task more of a challenge for the championship round.
The Kansas Board of EMS group’s bucket outweighed the Hutchinson Fire Department’s bucket. They had 0.28 grams and the Hutchinson Fire Department had 0.19 grams to finish off the competition.
