It’s county fair week. If you’ve never experienced a fair from the inside, it’s like final exams and Christmas all wrapped into an intense week filled with more sweat and dirt than you can imagine. It’s both exhausting and exhilarating. I have been involved in fairs my entire life, but am always amazed watching 4-H and FFA members learn life lessons through the trials of diligently preparing a project, talking with a judge and then nervously anticipating the outcome. Sometimes, the ribbon is blue. Other times it’s red. And if they’re lucky, the coveted purple or pink ribbons may be put on a project.

The reality is that ribbons fade and are eventually stashed away in boxes, forgotten about. It’s the stories behind the ribbons that are remembered for a lifetime. I still tell stories about my molasses crinkles baked my first year in 4-H, my showmanship cow Goldilocks who switched her feet when I tapped her shoulder, and my beloved Perfect who went from the bottom of the class as a chubby heifer to the top of the show and the grand matriarch of a family that has been passed on to my daughter.  Those are the stories, filled with life lessons, that matter so much more than trophies.

Some people claim it’s cruel to show animals who will provide us with food, but a glimpse on the inside of fair preparation tells a very different story. These animal are a personal passion for the families involved in 4-H and FFA; show animals eat before we do, are cleaner than we are and have stricter diets. However, the people providing the care know that the animal’s ultimate purpose is to provide food for humans; milk now and beef when they are culled, in the case of our dairy cattle. But it’s an absolute privilege to care for them. In celebration of the work my daughter, the pied piper of our pasture,  puts into caring to her cattle year-round, these are the stories behind the Holsteins she’ll be showing.

 Peppermint: She believes she is a queen, and several girls have suggested her poll needs a crown (it is the right size, so it may happen fair week). Peppermint has delivered lessons in perseverance; she’s as sweet as pie at home and adores attention, but is a very different story in the show ring. Nearly six now, she greatly enjoys planting Miss A into whatever wall or gate is available just because she can and she doesn’t like being full of milk. My daughter is taller than me and pretty strong for her age, but over 1,600 pounds of obnoxious cow is a lot to handle. Nonetheless, Miss A wants to show her and holds Queen Peppermint in a special place in her heart (the cow’s full story about being saved by rumen bugs is featured in both books). Perseverance through and through.

Lucky: The cow with the most nicknames, Lucky Ducky is a complete diva and headed to her fifth show. This two year-old is my daughter’s first homebred animal; she chose  gender selected semen from a bull named Goldchip to use on the heifer Miss A purchased as a 9 year-old. Lucky is silky black and pretty – and she knows it. Interestingly, her two-week-old daughter Lovely already thinks she is a diva, so it must be a highly heritable trait. Lucky has given lessons in patience and more than a few calluses as she loves to plant all four of her feet firmly in the ground when my daughter leads her. Her eyes light up when the halter comes out and she sees Miss A, but the diva excels at pushing my daughter’s buttons – I sometimes have to step away so I can laugh at the pair without being caught by a very ticked off teenager.  I pray they get along on show day!

Patience: As white as they come, Patience has taught her 4-Her about unconditional love and trust. She would probably follow Miss A around the fairgrounds without a halter and happily chews her cud (a sign of cow satisfaction) whenever she comes into the styling salon – known as a grooming chute to cattle people. Patience is Peppermint’s oldest daughter, but behaves herself in the show ring and has given my daughter a whole lot of confidence that she can train civilized animals. Since her topline is all white, she also lives up to her namesake when it comes to blending hair. For unknown reasons, Miss A has bestowed an English accent on Patience and been inspired to breed an “albino” calf.

Liberty: Named for the statue of Liberty that we visited last fall, this is Lucky’s sister, but she didn’t inherit the pretty gene. Great lessons in genetic variation. Nicknamed Bell, she really should be called belly because she sometimes looks like a pot-bellied pig and has a head like a Jersey. This fall calf has taught Miss A lessons in pride; my daughter is proud of how sweet the heifer is and has worked with her diligently, though she readily admits Bell won’t be at the top of the class. And that’s perfectly fine because there’s a young Holstein breeder who is proud of her work.

Point: The baby of the bunch, Point is four months old with a tongue longer than a grown cow. She delights in chewing on twine, halters and anything else she can get in her mouth. Point runs thought the pasture with her tail straight up in the air, is the grand daughter of Peppermint and worships the ground Miss A walks on. Point, named for a black dot on her head, has been trained to walk like a little lady on the halter since she was a baby, but still prefers to lunge in circles if given the opportunity. She has taught my daughter about the joy of sharing her passion for dairy with her friends who want to experience the long tongue or walk Point for her.

As you walk through the barns at the fairgrounds, it’s stories like these that illustrate the love and respect poured into show animals. It’s true of every species. Know that there was a young person who likely put in some 18-hour days to get those animals ready for the fair. The care of these animals is a story worthy of being told to the people who don’t know what it’s like to get up at 3 a.m. to wash cows or prepare animals with gloss and glitter on show day so they can look their best while their owners are dripping in sweat.  What lessons can you share from the county fair?