FARMING FUTURE

Shows, judging provide valuable experience

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » For its estimated 100,000 visitors, the Saratoga County Fair is a great source of fun, good food and entertainment.

To farm kids and 4-H members, who prepare animals for judging, the weeklong event is a training ground for careers in agriculture, while providing valuable life lessons as well.

Jonathan King, 18, experienced the rewards of hard work by capturing Grand Champion of All Breeds honors in this week’s 4-H Dairy Show, with his prize cow, Delicate.

“There’s a close bond between the farmer and cow,” said King, whose family owns Kings Ransom Farm in Northumberland. “When you’re with them every day, see their potential and how good they can do, it’s a really special thing.”

A 2018 Schuylerville High School graduate, he plans to attend Cornell University this fall where he’ll study animal and dairy science, with a longrange goal of returning to the family business.

The fair continues through Sunday. The weekend entertainment lineup includes a country and Western swing band, The Spurs, performing 1-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday; the band Maddhaus from 7:30-11:30 p.m. Saturday and the group Floodwood from 5-9 p.m. Sunday.

Also, four-wheel-drive pulls and a demolition derby are scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

King will spend Saturday morning at the fair’s Cattle Show Ring, where Delicate will be entered in the Open Senior Dairy Show competition.

In April, she was named intermediate champion of the youth show at the prestigious New York Spring Dairy Carousel, in Syracuse. Plans call for taking her to the upcoming Great New York State Fair as well.

“County fair is the perfect place to work with these cows and practice so that when you go to other shows they’ll look even better,” King said.

Kings Ransom’s milking herd numbers more than 800 cows. Selecting and preparing animals for show is a lengthy process.

Earlier this year, Jonathan, his brother Adam, and their father, Jeff, went through the barn and chose the best-looking animals for competition.

“Then we separate those cows and put them on a special diet so they’ll be ready for the fair and other shows we go to,” Jonathan said.

Other 4-H Dairy Show winners are:

• Reserve Grand Champion of All Breeds: Blake Wadsworth

• 1st Place Showman (1618 years old): Adam King

• 1st Place Showman (13-15 years old): Zachary Bowen

• 1st Place Showman (1012 years old): Lauren King

• 1st Place Showman (8-9 years old or first time exhibiting): Reilly McCormick

Jonathan and Adam’s cousin, Nate, had two class winners in the Open Junior Dairy Show on Friday.

“I’m very proud of them,” said Edgar King, their grandfather. “Kids love the competition here and they love their animals. Each year they put more work in at home, getting them ready and prepared for the fair. I really admire that. It’s going to make them good farmers in the future.”

The fair also provides networking opportunities, and gives kids a chance to ask questions and learn from other farmers, he said.

Jeff King said, “Our kids have been working at home with their animals on an almost daily basis for about the past two months — feeding, washing and grooming them so they’re ready for show. It’s a huge amount of work and responsibility. It’s a great lesson for them to work through that whole process, all the preparation and the intense amount of work they put in here at the fair, and to see that hard work pay off.”

The same is true of the fair’s many other exhibitors such as Brian Ruth of Hartsville, Pa., whose masterful chainsaw carvings will be auctioned at 7 p.m. Saturday. His subjects run the gamut including bears, eagles, raccoons popping their heads out of a trash can, and a ferocious looking tyrannosaurus rex.

Auction proceeds will benefit the fair’s scholarship fund.

Ruth said he enjoys performing before crowds more than working at home in his studio.

“I’ve always done this as entertainment,” he said. “It’s just more exciting when people watch because you want to get it done quicker and keep their attention.” For more information and a full schedule of activities goto: saratoga county fair. org.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Jonathan King, center, holds his cow, Delicate, which was named Grand Champion of All Breeds in the Saratoga County Fair 4-H Dairy Show. King is joined by his father, Jeff, left, and grandfather, Edgar, right.

PHOTO PROVIDED Natasha Czizik, a Saratoga Springs High School graduate entering her second year at SUNY Cobleskill this fall, won Saratoga County Fair’s 4-H Goat Show with Georgiana from Vincek’s Farm in Wilton. Czizik was Champion Showman and won the Grand Champion Animal award. She is majoring in animal science.

PHOTOS BY PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Bill Brownell of Hoosick Falls took part in the tractor pull competition at Saratoga County Fair on Friday. Four-wheel-drive pulls are scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.

Blake Wadsworth’s cow was named Reserve Grand Champion in Saratoga County Fair’s 4-H Dairy Show. Wadsworth, a senior at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, works at Eildon Tweed Farm in Charlton and plans are pursuing animal science studies and a career in dairy.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Olivia Killian holds a young cow before it enters the show ring for judging at Saratoga County Fair on Friday.

Charles Wagner and Susan Mitchell of Averill Park enjoy a slice of pizza, some of the wide variety of tasty food available at Saratoga County Fair.