WASHINGTON COUNTY : Fair competition teaches students worth of animals
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/234795/
FAYETTEVILLE — Katie the dairy cow is one pushy broad.
Just ask her trainer, Sara Hacker — a 9-year-old from Lincoln who says she tries to “act bigger” than the heifer in order to convince Katie to do what Sara wants.
But it’s hard to fool a 700-pound Jersey cow.
With an effortless nudge of the nose, Katie bumped Sara off balance, forcing the 50-pound girl to kick a leg in the air to stay standing.
“Kay-tee,” Sara said in a tone normally reserved for bothersome siblings.
Sara was one of about 50 exhibitors competing Tuesday in the dairy livestock show at the Washington County Fair. The fair is scheduled to run through Saturday.
Sara and Katie battled subtly in a walkway outside the show arena, moments before they were called for a competition focused on handlers’ techniques.
Katie moved about and bellowed loudly, prompting Sara to shush her like a delinquent toddler.
“She’s just as nervous as Sara,” said Penny Brown, Sara’s aunt from Texas who traveled to Fayetteville to help show Katie and the family’s other cattle.
Elswhere, in a steel truss building north of the arena, members of the Farmington High School Future Farmers of America helped Keith Bramwell judge turkeys and other poultry.
Feathers exploded into the air like a pillow fight as the turkeys flapped their wings while high school boys removed them from pens. Bramwell then walked around inspecting the amount of meat on the birds’ chests.
Farmington and other districts take turns each year helping fair officials judge different animals, said Ronnie Horn, the school’s FFA sponsor and agriculture teacher.
Only a handful of the Farmington group were showing turkeys, most of which were raised at a new barn at the school. Students took turns over the summer tending the birds, sheep and pigs that live there, he said.
In the past, students would have to find a way to tend to their animals at home. He’s hopeful more students will become involved in FFA with the new barn in place that will allow them to raise animals at school.
He guessed about a quarter of the club’s members go into agricultural professions.
“It teaches them responsibility,” Horn said of raising the animals for the fair.
Brennon Collins, a junior, said he visited the barn frequently with his 11-year-old brother over the summer to feed and water the animals. His brother, he said, liked to play with the other animals. His turkey did not place, but two others from the school did. The animals belong to the students, who usually sell their birds after the fair or butcher them for a Thanksgiving meal, Horn said. Back at the dairy livestock show, Sara’s struggles with Katie were evident while she was inside the arena. At times she’d dig her heels into the dirt to push Katie where she wanted her to go. Other times she’d have to pull the lead with two hands to get her to start walking. Even so, she and the other contestant in her heat won blue ribbons. “I think I did good,” Sara said while examining her bright red hand. “My hand got caught in the chain,” she said. “And Katie stepped on my foot — again.” Sara said she wasn’t sure if she’d show dairy cows again. She’d rather stick to beef cows, which she’s used to. “It’s not as fun,” she said.
To contact this reporter: aotoole@arkansasonline. com
IF YOU GO Washington County Fair 2536 N. McConnell Ave., Fayetteville Gates open at 10 a. m. today though Saturday Admission $ 5 Online at www. thewashingtoncountyfair. com