All of the animals that are brought into the fair, have to be there on the Saturday before the fair officially starts on Sunday. Being that I run cross country we always have an invitationals on Saturdays, therefore, this makes it very difficult to transfer all of my animals from home to the fair. This year, we had an invite at Lock Haven on Saturday morning, so I had a three and a half hour bus ride to Lock Haven, had to run my race, and then come back home and get all of my animals to the fair with my dad before 5 o'clock! Talk about stress. But as always I got through it, my animals all made it happy and healthy to the fair and my team won the invite, so it was an awesome unofficial 1st day of the fair.
Then it was Sunday, the first day of the fair! I was so excited and already exhausted for the fair to begin. Sunday wasn't that exciting of a day other than the fact that one of my great friends won fair queen! On Sunday the only other activites that I am involved in are three stockman's test that I participate in. For those of you that don't know what a stockman's test is; it is a test on a certain species of animals, such as swine, the test includes parts of the animal, the skeleton of the animal, information of the animal, breeds of the animal, and meat cuts as well. On Sunday, I took the swine, goat, and beef tests.
Now, it was time for the pig show! Monday morning at 9 a.m. Preparing for the extremely long day ahead, my friends and I also get all of our pigs, and ourselves ready for the show and then go out and get breakfast on the midway. It's a tradition that we have not let down since we began showing so many years ago. Monday was a great day and out of all of my class, stockman's, and showmanship awards, I was the most proud of my Champion Purebred County Bred pig named Posie. The best part about Monday was Monday night though. On Monday night, there was a new contest that they brought back to the fair called the Hay Stacking Contest. It was a blast and our team did awesome! We ended up getting second place and our team name was the Triple Chuckers because you could only have three participating members.
It is now Tuesday and time for the goat show. Being that my family owns a beef and goat farm, this is usually the most exciting for my mother. A large number of the goats in the show as well are from out farm so she is always nervous and excited for all of the 4-Her's. This year at the fair was one of the best for Craft Farms Boer Goats. I won Grand Champion County Bred Goat with my 119 lb. Lamancha/ Boer Cross named Darrel. I was so excited, it was an awesome accomplishment. Along with this, the Reserve Champion and Reserve Champion County Bred goats were also both from my family's farm so my parents were estatatic! The day countinued on a good note, I placed very well in showmanship and also won Senior Goat Stockman and Overall Goat Stockman as well!
Now it was Wednesday and time for my final show and I will have to admit probably my favorite, the steer show. I usually show two steers but this year I only showed one and I wouldn't have changed a single thing. My steer this year was very special to me and he was truly a teddy bear. His name was Rocky and he was a 1,450 lb. Chiangus steer. He was one of the greatest steers I've ever had a by far had the nicest build of any steer that we had ever raised and in the past we won both Grand and Reserve Champion. The beef show itself was very disappointing and many people did not agree with the judge's final decision, but it was only one show. The day ended on a good note though, I again placed very well in showmanship and then again won Senior Beef Stockman and Overall Beef Stockman for the third year in a row.
My fair ended on a Thursday this year because I had State Council Training Friday- Sunday. Sadly though, this is one of the worst days of the fair because it's auction day. Even though this is a sad day my friends and I always try to lighten the mood and keep things as happy as possible. So this year at the fair regardless of the shows and the auction and the contests was an amazing one that I wouldn't change anything about. Even though things might not always go the way you would like them to, you always learn important life lessons in those difficult decisions.
Until Later,
Dawn Craft
2012/2013 State Council Vice President of Operations
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