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Tracy Mumford

Faces of the fair: Justus, young goat farmer

Justus Larson at the state fair
Twelve-year-old Justus Larson sat with his 3-month old goat Samoa at the Minnesota State Fair last week.
Tracy Mumford | MPR News

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Forget what you've seen in cartoons: Goats don't eat tin cans.

It's just a myth that the farm animals will chew up anything and everything.

Goats are actually quite picky eaters, according 12-year-old Justus Larson. Larson was chaperoning his 3-month-old goat, Samoa, around the fairgrounds. He knows what goats really like.

"Baby pine trees," Larson said. "If you have baby pine trees, they'll eat the whole thing."

Larson lives on a farm in Franklin Township, Minn., with three goats, plus several cats and chickens. This year was his first competing at the fair with 4-H. The seventh-grader and Samoa exhibited in the Dairy Goat competition.

The competition took only a few hours, which left Larson with time to take in the fair sights — with Samoa on a leash.

As they walked, the ground was littered with lost cheese curds, fries and other treats, but Samoa wasn't interested — as a goat, she had more refined tastes.