When I was younger, I loved showing animals at the fair. I’ll admit, I was in it more for the fun than the cattle. Those calves and heifers were essentially my ticket in, so I didn’t mind the morning chores and occasional barn duty shifts. That was the price to pay for spending five days with friends, eating fair food, playing euchre and other card games, riding carnival rides and maybe an occasional water fight at the wash rack.
Upon returning to school in the fall, my classmates would talk of the summer vacations they took to theme parks, beaches, mountains and other popular tourist destinations. My vacation report: I went to the fair.
A few decades later, I’m back to “vacationing” at the fair while my children show their animals. A new parent in our 4-H show string commented, “This is a lot like camping.” As we sat near the animals in our canvas folding chairs each day, we couldn’t help but come to the same conclusion.
It also reminded me of one of my child’s drawings of how she’d imagine a family camping trip to be. She drew everyone in the tent except Mom, who was busy outside getting everything ready.
In my excitement for the fair as a child, I didn’t realize all the efforts made by my parents and dairy leaders to give me that experience. From making sure we had white pants and show supplies to organizing barn duty and bedding and so much more, those adults made sure we were in the right place at the right time with everything we kids and the animals needed. Now, as a fair parent, I see all that there is to do both at the fair and at home each day, all while keeping spirits positive as you battle through a week of less-than-ideal sleep times. The challenge is real.
When people describe showing animals, you often hear “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun too.”
But there is also a deeper value to it. These fun fair and show times are more than memories; it helps to inspire passion for our industry. As I look at the other kids I knew when showing dairy, they are now actively dairy farming, working as nutrition consultants, with dairy cattle genetics or in farm services. Nearly everyone is still involved in some capacity in the dairy industry today.
I can’t think of any other youth activities with such a high succession rate. Yes, there is a lot to be gained in teamwork and being active in youth sports, but how many become professional athletes? Youth clubs can teach life skills, leadership and other developmental aptitudes but seldom result in a career in that field. But I’ll bet if you walk through the dairy barn at your county fair this summer, you’ll more than likely see almost all those same faces connected to dairy or agriculture in the near future.
The fair may seem like fun and games, perhaps like camping or a summer vacation, and even a lot of work, but in reality it is a foundation for the future of our dairy industry.
