Oregon Farm Help « Back

The Jersey kids have been countin’ down their west coast visitors for months and when the day arrived to pick up the Oregon family—my kids couldn’t have been more excited.

It has been pure fun since they landed and busy to say the least. The family came out to meet baby Jacob and participate at the county fair.

My kids' cousin, Colby, 6 ½, showed his first calf ever, at our county fair. It was cute to say the least, watch my kids teach Colby what to do. Colby quickly learned the ropes—learned how to walk his heifer with a show halter on; what his calf’s diet entails and how to keep her clean and cool.
 
When it was show time, the kids dressed in boots, jeans and a farm show shirt and were bundled with excitement and nerves. They walked their calves into the show ring with a smile and demonstrated superb showmanship skills. I was proud to say the least to witness their hard work paying off. Watching the trio sharpen their showmanship skills after hours of practice this summer and the ray of self esteem that they exemplified today, just made my heart swell.

The judge was patient with the kids. He asked the kids how old the calf was and the kids replied with the age of their animals. They loved every minute of today—as did we all—getting their animal ready, showing, the ribbons, the ice-cream cone afterward, and later on, helping Scott and his brother, Brian, show in the championship round. They thought this was the “best thing about summer” and I had to smile about their simple satisfaction.

Baby Jacob snoozed through most of the dairy show—dreaming about his future of wearing hand-me down cowboy boots with a leather show halter in his hand. Soon, he will be out in the show ring, getting prepped on showmanship skills from his big brother and big sister.