Commentary.

For those of you who do not like the smell of wood shavings, sawdust, cows, pigs, sheep and rabbits, you are missing out on one of my favorite things about the county fair. The olfactory nerves get a pretty good work-out if you walk through the livestock barns and wander over to the arena where the team penning competition is underway. Take a stroll through the carnival with its array of cotton candy, corn dog, and popcorn stands, and finally take your seat in the grandstand where exhaust from the “tough trucks competition” hangs low in the air.

Ah, the smells of summertime!

Another favorite event of mine at the county fair is the livestock showmanship competition. Although the showmanship competition class usually occurs after each respective livestock species competition is complete, a good judge is at work throughout the day, looking to see which exhibitors possess the appearance and behavior of true showmen.

Being a good showman is presenting an animal in a manner that will develop the most favorable impression on the judge. Even if your show heifer is a bit too flat patterned, pinched in her heart or cut up in her flank, you can still be recognized as the best showman. Not every child can have Grand Champion, and somebody has to come in last in class. Showmanship teaches a child to take responsibility, win graciously, and lose with dignity.

Showing cattle or any other species for that matter, usually looks pretty easy if you’re standing outside the show ring at the state fair. The early fairs and preview shows, however, are sometimes more like a rodeo than a cattle show. Green kids and greener calves need time together to learn to trust one another. Halter breaking an animal and training it to walk, stop and “set up” takes a lot of time and patience.

How many times have you walked through the livestock barns at the county fair and found a steer or heifer lying down in the stalls with a lean and lanky adolescent boy stretched out on top of his bovine charge? Although that sort of behavior isn’t going to win him any prizes as a showman, it tells me that he knows how to build trust with the animal and has the heart of a stockman.

Last week, CNN’s Eatocracy ran a feature piece with Chef Kelly Liken who likes to purchase meat animals from local 4-Hers and encouraged others to do the same. Her support of the program that teaches young people to raise and sell livestock touched off a firestorm of debate between those who support the program for promoting responsible animal husbandry and those who believe 4-H “desensitizes youngsters into having no emotional attachments to animals raised for food.”

The immediate and contentious responses triggered by this feature are yet another example of the need for each of us to make a conscious effort to educate our non-farm neighbors about what really happens on our farms, and why. More importantly, do the right thing on your farm every day and teach your children the same.