FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — It was so cold Wednesday morning at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo that the tiny Nubian goats and Nigerian dwarf goats needed a heat lamp, blankets, extra shavings and warm milk to keep from shivering.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the llamas, Brangus, horses and other larger animals, on the other hand, just stood and took it.
As temperatures hovered at 13 degrees — the coldest in Fort Worth in seven years — Wednesday was transition day at the Stock Show, meaning there were fewer than 100 show animals on the grounds. During the 23-day show, more than 30,000 animals and birds pass through for competition.
Llamas and tie-down-roping slack competition were the featured events Wednesday. The temperature was low enough to close the Stock Show’s carnival and midway, but it wasn’t much problem for the llamas.
“Their history is from the Andes, and it can be cold there,” said Janet Baber of the Southeast Texas town of Midway, who was at her sixth Stock Show showing llamas. “So it doesn’t bother them.”
Baber said she used hay and mats for her llamas stalls.
“The mats are more for them not to get hay in the wool because that takes a bit to get it out,” Baber said.
The tiny Nigerian dwarf goats and the Nubian goats at the Pictures with the Baby Animals booth in the Sheep Barn needed a little help to keep warm.
The five goats from the LBR Ranch in North Richland Hills are as young as 10 days old and some may weigh as little as 8 pounds. James Milam and Derek Whisenand used blankets, a heat lamp, extra shavings and warm goats milk to help the youngsters with the temperatures.
“They are just small,” Whisenand said.
“They stay here overnight so we have to watch them pretty close,” Milam said. “We wouldn’t want them to get too warm.”
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Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram,http://www.star-telegram.com
—By DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR. , Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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