County fair

[snoopdog]

Went with my sweet and lovely to the county fair yesterday, little podunk event, but I swear, I had as much fun going through the barns as any I've had in a long long time. And fair food!

 

[Little Cow]

Oh yes. Here, they will fry anything and put it on a stick. Cardiologist job security.

 

[Little Cow]

I also love going through the cattle barn to see the breed displays. We did that ten years ago with ten of our Dexters. At first, we were teased, good naturedly, by the other breeders (we knew most folks from the cattlemen's association). However, after several days of sharing a barn, I caught the other breeders petting our Dexters. One guy told me he thought they acted more like dogs than cattle. Many of the other breeders were surprised that I turned my young heifers out in the arena to run around a bit before the fair opened. Their cows seemed perfectly content to stand tied all day and night.Dexters are bright, energetic, little cattle. They were well-behaved and a favorite for the public to pet and feed treats to. We had a great time.

 

[darcelina4]

We just had our county fair this weekend. My daughter shows all kinds of animals. She had grand champion rabbit (we raise about 200 rabbits a year and kept the few best ones). She did win the grand champion senior high point at our 4h horse show. She won reserve grand champion dairy cow. She won classes with beef and dairy calves, chickens, other rabbits. So lots of success and some solid losses too. But overall pretty happy. The disappointment was in the crowd attendance at the fair and the drop in the number of kids showing at both the local and county shows. Most of the county show goers went to the midway and didn't even walk through the livestock barns. So many kids just not showing that had in the past. I dont know why most dropped out. One kid had a steer last year. He isn't showing now because his family lives in town and he has no place to keep a steer. Dont feel sorry for him though. He was a dick to the people who let him keep it at their farm last year. They taught him to show. They helped him so much. He treated them crappy. At his first show, my daughter clipped his steer for him and showed him how to do it. She showed him how to get control of the steer. This boy tries to talk trash to her. She tells him to f---off and walks away. My daughter has learned to be nice and helpful to people and build a reputation in the community as a polite, hard working, skilled person. This boy is the opposite of that. One girl in her school did bring a holstein heifer they bought in January. We petitioned our fair board last year to allow genetic recovery and unregistered dairy cattle to be able to show this year. This little girl was very open to help. My daughter clipped her heifer and showed her how to show. At our local show, my daughters heifer was grand over the girls heifer. At the county fair, the judge gave the girl grand aob heifer. She will get a plack. I think this will really encourage her. I hope she can share with others that you can win. Many families here have cattle that their kid could catch a calf, train and feed it, and show it . They just wont. The parents think they have no chance. Not trying is guaranteed to result in not winning. The journey to the show ring is the benefit to showing not the $5 premium they get if they win.