OXFORD – Rather than take leadership outdoor courses to build self esteem and responsibility, Vicky Drew of Denmark believes children can learn the same through raising and showing dairy goats.

That’s why the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Oxford County 4-H now has a program to rent dairy goats to children ages 9 to 18 who want to learn competitive dairy goat showmanship.

“You don’t actually have to have a goat anymore,” said Drew, the 4-H youth goat show coordinator and dairy goat leasing program director.

While watching children dressed wholly in white or off-white parade dairy goats of varying size and color around a livestock ring on Sunday inside the new 4-H building at the Oxford Fair, Drew kept score at the nearby trophy table.

“I’d like to see more kids do dairy goats, because it gives them confidence and responsibility. They can learn so much by taking care of a creature,” she said.

Through the program, children learn how to raise and care for dairy goats so that when it comes time to show them competitively at Maine fairs, the animals are in top physical form.

Learning was what many of the child competitors were doing at Sunday afternoon’s show in front of about 50 people of all ages while parading mostly Nubian goats before judge Paul Kempe of West Virginia.

Competitions judge both showmanship and fitting, or how well each dairy goat has been kept, Drew said.

Every time Kempe asked the youths to stop and set up their goats, they’d pull up on chain or rope tethers around the animals necks, usually halting forward motion. Next, they adjusted the stance of each rear leg and some had to press slightly down on the goat’s back rear to get the animal into the correct position.

For the most part, though, the goats knew what was going on and reacted accordingly, or so it seemed.

“This judge works them. He likes to teach them, so it’s not just a competition, it’s a learning experience,” Drew said of Kempe.

Most of the children competing Sunday are members of the Oxford 4-H Caprine Milkers Club.

To learn more about the dairy goat leasing program, Drew advised people to contact their county extension services to find out where 4-H livestock clubs are located. They are:

Oxford County Extension Service office, Olsen Road, Paris, (207) 743-6329;

Franklin County Cooperative Extension, 147 Farmington Falls Road, Farmington, (800) 287-1478;

University of Maine Cooperative Extension Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties, 24 Main St., Lisbon Falls, (207) 353-5550; and

UMaine Cooperative Extension Cumberland County Office, Portland, (207) 780-4205.