YOUR LIVESTOCK QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

Q: Why do the sheep wear coats?

A: Sheep aren’t known to be great followers of fashion. But lambie jammies – protective pajamas – are all the rage in the livestock pens as animals await their turn in the ring. Sheep are especially messy eaters and often top off lunch with a good old roll in the hay, so the coats help keep them clean and keep pesky flies at bay.

Q: After raising an animal, isn’t it hard to see it auctioned off?

A: Farming isn’t for the faint-hearted – something young exhibitors learn early on when prize-winning animals are herded off to auction and ultimately the slaughterhouse.

“You have to learn to say goodbye,” says Rebecca Starkenburg, 21. “But it is hard, especially if they have personalities.”

The 2017 Fairest of the Fairs winner, Starkenburg is a roving ambassador for all Wisconsin shows this summer and is constantly quizzed about emotional farewells.

“It’s probably the number-one question,” she says. “Farmers don’t look at livestock as pets – animals have a purpose, as does everything on a farm. When I was younger, I learned not to get too attached.”

Starkenburg, who grew up on a four-acre farm in DeForest, near Madison, has been exhibiting her own sheep since she was a 9-year-old 4-H member. And even though she is now studying agriculture at South Dakota State University, she still maintains a herd of 10.