County Fair recap

Our summer wouldn't be complete without spending some time at the Stearns County Fair. Riding the rides, visiting with friends, checking out all of the exhibits, noshing on corn dogs, and showing our cattle – we love it all.

Now that the calves and heifers are all back in their pens and the show halters are back in the show box, I thought I'd share a few photos from the shows. Looking back at the photos from our first year of showing, I can't believe how much our little exhibitors have grown. I'm sure I'll look back at this post one day and think the same thing again.

We didn't show at the Central Minnesota Youth Dairy Days Show this year, so our only show this summer was the Stearns County Fair Open Show. Dan showed Lego and Monika showed Sparkle. Lego is an April crossbred calf out of Lucy, Dan's favorite cow. Sparkle is a March Jersey calf out of Star, one of Monika's favorite cows. Dan and Monika knew from the moments Lego and Sparkle were born that they would be their fair calves.

Even though we didn't spend as much time walking the calves as I thought we should have, the show went well. Dan and Monika did a great job telling the judge about their calves. They practiced watching the judge and walking slowly, too.

Photo by Tammy Frericks

Monika was excited to get a ribbon from Stearns County Dairy Princess, Sabrina Ley.

Photo by Tammy Frericks

Lego and Sparkle weren't the only calves from our farm that went to the fair. Our nieces and nephew showed several of our calves and heifers, too, in both the 4-H Dairy Show and the Open Show.

Photo by Tammy Frericks

Hailey showed Java, a crossbred spring junior yearling (above), and Gael, a Holstein spring calf.

Kallie showed Penny, a Holstein fall calf (above), and Honey, a crossbred spring calf.

Photo by Tammy Frericks

Bryce showed Wiggle, a Holstein spring calf.

Photo by Tammy Frericks

Hailey, Kallie, and Bryce all did a great job showing this year, too. Bryce had a lot of fun in the Cloverbud show. Hailey and Kallie did very well in 4-H showmanship.

Photo by Tammy Frericks

I wasn't organized enough to get a picture of our kids together after the show, but I love this picture my sister-in-law, Tammy, took of Hailey, Kallie, and Bryce.

Dan and Monika will join 4-H this fall, so next year's fair will be a whole new adventure for us, with both 4-H and Open shows and stalling our calves at the fair for the whole week, instead of just bringing them in the day of the show.

Dan wants to take two calves to the fair next year – and chickens – so we're already thinking about which cows will have possible fair calves next spring and which of this year's calves will go on to show next year.

Did you go to your County Fair? What's your favorite part of the fair?