The Calumet County Fair kicks off this Friday and runs through Labor Day. This year we spoke with two of the girls from the Farm and Home 4-H Club, Emma, and Natalie Krahn.
This isn’t their first time around the show ring as they’ve been showing since they were about four years old, but even though they’ve been showing so long, it’s still a lot of work. “We practice daily with our animals, at least we try to, walking around with them on the halter for about a half an hour,” Emma said.
Natalie admits that they probably should’ve started a little earlier, but it’s still going well. “Normally we should be starting around June or after they are done bottle feeding, but we have so many plans in the summer that we didn’t start until August.”
There are a few things the two try to keep in mind when practicing with the animals as Emma mentioned, “You have to know information on your calves such as its birthday and the sire.” Natalie added, “We have to make sure it’s posed right, its head is up, and we have to make sure it’s walking good for us and not trying to hurt us.”
Natalie shared one lesson that she learned at an early age, “Don’t do anything that your cow may not trust. When I was practicing the summer before 1st grade, I heard something else that my cousin said when we were practicing and she said ‘if the cow trusts you go slowly and you can kiss it or touch it to pet it.’ and I didn’t hear any of that and I kissed it and it started bucking me around and dragging me.”
Even though that wasn’t the best way to start off a career at the county fair, she chose to stick with it afterward. “I find it fun and I love showing how a cow can react to people once you start working with it,” she said.
Emma and Natalie will be showing this Saturday at the fair. Emma mentioned that anyone showing this year should remember one thing, “even though you might not take the place you wanted you still have gotten better than the year before and you just have to keep trying.”
The most interesting part of speaking with both Emma and Natalie is that they brought up the fact that they don’t live on a farm, yet they’ve been showing animals for quite some time. “You gotta know someone that lives on a farm. I don’t live on a farm but my uncle lets me show his animals,” Natalie said. Lucky for them, they have that connection to agriculture.
The Krahn girls are the perfect example of how anyone can show at the county fair even if they don’t have an agriculture background. The key is to find a connection and hopefully find a farmer that’ll allow you to keep your animals on their farm or allow you to show their animals. The point is that if someone truly wants to be a part of the county fair, the possibility is there.
To hear the full interview with Emma and Natalie, you can check out the agriculture podcast page.
The Calumet County Fair will be held at the fairgrounds in Chilton from September 3rd through the 6th.
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