Talk to the animals

This crossbred steer stands patiently as Rodney Rod of Arlington takes a trimmer to its coat. Rod said the steer, which belonged to his niece, had just been sold, and he was helping fit it for the buyer. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

PRINCETON — Forget the corn dogs and the Tilt-A-Whirl. For some people, the Bureau County Fair is all about the animals.

The Bureau County Fair allows exhibitors to show their animals in the beef and dairy cattle, horse, sheep, swine, poultry, rabbits, ponies and goats categories.

Fair board member Mark Verstraete said that generally, exhibition numbers were very much up this year.

“The beef were way up, and this was one of the very best beef shows in the past decade,” he said.

On Saturday, the blocking chutes were busy as area teens got their cattle ready for the Junior Beef show.

Emily Frankfother, 20, of Prophetstown, was hosing down her Hereford, who seemed to enjoy the shower in the face of the afternoon heat.

Frankfother, who’s been showing since she was 10, had three cow-calf pairs and a heifer at this year’s show.

Frankfother said she knows lots of people who show animals, and called the whole process “fun.”

“You get to meet a lot of people, too,” she said.

Down the row, Nathan Draper, 17, of Amboy, and his sister Lydia, 15, were playing beautician to two crossbred steers.

“I’m fitting up the legs to make them look fuller down through the legs,” Nathan said, demonstrating.

Both of the Drapers said they’ve been showing for about eight years, and the last four at the Bureau County Fair.

“It’s fun,” Lydia said. “I like animals, and I’ve always done it.”

Down the row and around the bend, 10-year-old Jake Temple of Peru was fitting out a shorthorn steer. Jake, who was helping his dad, said he’s been coming to the fair for about four or five years.

“It’s fun to show them, and the kids gets a lot of experience,” he said.

Jake said getting the animals ready for the show is a lot of work.

“We feed them and then we groom them and wash them and blow them out and comb them and leave them tied up and lead them around a lot,” he said.

But there were more than cattle on display.

David Gorman from Steward was over in the sheep building with his Montadale and Cheviot sheep.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,” he said. “We stopped coming for about four years, and then started coming back because I’ve got a niece now that’s showing.”

While numbers were strong among most of the animal exhibitors, they were down about 80 to 90 head in the sheep area. Verstraete said a high-profile sheep exhibitor had died, and many of those who exhibit sheep were at his sale.

Gorman, who had already been at the Wisconsin and Illinois state fairs, among several others, said he thought the numbers were down at a lot of the fairs, partly due to the cost of transportation.

Gorman’s sheep drew some interest from passersby because of the sheep blankets, which Gorman called “raincoats,” that some of the sheep wore.

“Before the first show, the initial cut out and washing takes about six or seven hours,” he said. “The raincoats keep them cleaner.”

Gorman said the sheep don’t seem to mind their unusual apparel.

“It’s just like having clothes on,” he said.

On the other end of the sheep barn, Donna Onley from Toulon was keeping an eye on her 31 milk goats.

Onley said she’s been showing at the Bureau County Fair off and on over several years.

“It’s a nice barn, but there isn’t a lot of competition here, I’m sorry to say,” she said. “It would be a little more pleasurable if there were more.”

Verstraete said he expects animal exhibits will be up at the 2009 Bureau County Fair, thanks to the rescheduling of the Stevenson County Fair.

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.