Posted: 7/21/04
By Barbara Brown
A yearís worth of hard work balancing animal care and housework, friends and school, all culminates during the Chisago County Fair for many county youths.
But, when the fair gets started, that doesnít mean the work is done.
Early in the morning on the first day of the fair, the livestock barns are filled with noise and activity as 4-H and FFA members get their animals settled in and ready for showing and judging.
Each of the barns has a manager, usually a fair board member, who helps answer questions, round up animals and make sure everyone is where they need to be.
Fair board member David Fisher spent his early morning with several other volunteers setting up the cattle barn.
Hundreds of bails of straw are used by the youths to create the beds for their animals, while in the pig and sheep barn bails of pine shavings are used to cover the concrete floors.
ìWe donít get to sit back and just watch very much,î Fisher said. ìWhen youíre on the fair board you get manual labor time.î
The labor of setting up the animals for the long fair weekend does not solely rest upon the adults, however.
The youths are up just as early in the morning and sometimes spend several hours checking in and setting up their pens as well as convincing sometimes stubborn animals they should go into their pens or cages.
Older siblings help younger siblings who have multiple animals enter their show pieces.
Chris Houston, 17, entered his rabbits as well as those of his brother and sister as they tended to other duties.
Cole Loeffelholz and his sister Nina both were nervous about the approaching competitions after they set up their rabbit cages.
This was the first year for both to enter the rabbit competition.
Cole said the yearís worth of work raising his rabbits was tough, but the judging made him nervous.
In the pig barn, Jacob Klinke, 12, of Almelund, convinced several pigs to enter their respective pens.
Brandon Johnson, 10, and Mike Johnson, his brother, also had entered pigs in the competition.
The Klinkes and Johnsons are friends and helped each other get more than six pigs into stalls before the clock struck 9 a.m.
Before the animals are snug in their pens and cages, they are bathed.
According to Mick Campbell, barn manager for the poultry section, bathing the animals with the same product is important to reduce the risk of illness.
It also gives the entrants a chance to double check the all-over physical health of their animals before putting them in the stalls.
Washing a cow is much like washing a minivan while giving a bath to a duck is like trying to bathe a wiggly two-year-old child.
For all the hard work the youths put into taking care of their animals, they donít tire of it.
ìThis is just what we do,î said Jacob Klinke. ìItís a lot of fun, but sometimes itís hard because they can get pretty stubborn.î
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