When little 5-year-old Drew Mascorro took to the show ring for the first time at the Wylie Livestock Show in January, she already looked like a seasoned veteran.
And it’s no wonder. Her big brother Cooper, 11, has been showing for four years now, and her bigger brother, 22-year-old Mac, showed before that.
Her mother Whitney showed animals when she was a child and even went to college on a scholarship. Her grandfather, Dr. Gary Vannoy, is a veterinarian and breeds show goats, and even her 7-year-old sister, Reese, has done her fair share of shows.
To say it runs in the family would be an understatement.
“I started because my brother was showing and that made me want to,” said Cooper, who is the current showman in the family. Technically both girls are too young to show, but they are allowed to show their brother’s animals at the Wylie show.
The Wylie Livestock show is where many Wylie kids get their first taste of showing, some at a very young age. Although kids can’t show until they are 9, they can help older brothers and sisters and get experience in the ring.
And like the Mascorros, showing is a family affair for many Wylie families.
Cooper said his grandfather is the main reason that he got into showing goats.
“It was mostly my grandpa,” he said. “He has a bunch of goats. He was one of the influences of the boer goat coming to America.”
Vannoy has long bred goats and helped bring the boer goat to the US from New Zealand. He said the boer goats are better meat goats than the Spanish goats, which were common in the U.S. However, he said teaching his children and now his grandchildren to show is about something much more important than goats.
“I use the goats as a tool to spend time with my grandchildren,” he said. “That’s pretty important in this world. I teach them how to exhibit both themselves and their animals.”
Their grandfather trains the Mascorro kids on how to care for the animals and how to show them, and he is right there cheering them on when they show. When he teased Reese about her work ethic, she quickly corrected him.
“Remember, you said I did really good out there,” she reminded him, to which he quickly affirmed that she did.
The girls held firmly to their goats in the Wylie show ring without a hint of fear. Their mother said they have never been afraid.
“When they were babies, they would come out in the goat pen and chase them,” Whitney said.
The family will be busy traveling to stock shows most of the spring. Cooper swept the goat awards at the Wylie show and was headed to the Taylor County Show next. His dad, Brandon, said the family will also go to shows in Fort Worth, San Angelo, San Antonio and Austin.
“We’ve got kind of a busy spring,” he said. “These are all major shows.”
Some of them are also terminal shows, meaning the goats are sold at auction once the show is complete. Brandon said Cooper is used to that, but the girls sometimes get attached.
“We’ve had issues with that,” he said. “Last year, Reese named one of them.”
Cooper said his sister didn’t realize the goat was gone until several months later. She wasn’t too happy when she found out.
But Cooper is an old pro at showing and understands that the goats will be going to auction.
“I’m kind of used to it now,” he said.