Cows are cool
Volunteers at state fair love working with the easy-going animals
Bonnie Ayars thinks people can learn a lot from cows.
“They really teach us how we need to be,” she said. “They’re not demanding. They’re creatures of habit and won’t ask for anything extra.”
Ayars is a dairy program specialist at Ohio State University and also has a family farm in Mechanicsburg. But right now she’s spending 10 days lovingly caring for other people’s dairy cows. She oversees the milk parlor at the Ohio State Fair, where each cow visits a couple of times a day.
Ayars, 68, has worked with dairy cows at the fair for more than 50 years.
This year, she’s working with parlor manager April Frye to make sure all the cows are milked when they need it. Friday, the state fair cows gave about 10,000 pounds of milk.
Ayars and Frye
are especially busy after the cows are showed at competitions. The cows aren’t milked until after the show, because the exhibitors want the udders to be nice and full for the judges. Then, the milking parlor is the next stop.
Ayars enjoys getting to know the cows.
“They really have personality. Some of them are aggressive eaters, some are bullies and some are divas,” she said.
Ayars was raised on a farm. At the fair, she honed her eye for cows more and more, first as a child exhibitor and now as a supervisor in the milk parlor.
If there’s a bovine problem at the fair, Ayars is the go-to woman. She deals with everything from leaky hoses in the milking parlor to cows giving birth.
Another part of Ayars’ work is teaching. In her informal lessons with junior competitors at the fair, she hopes to incite the same passion she has for dairy farming.
Fairgoers might just want to see a pretty cow. But specific criteria goes into the judging, from udder depth to leg strength.
Ayars can explain what makes a cow’s legs beautiful — you don’t want the front legs to be frail, and the back legs need an adequate arch.
“There’s a certain udder depth you want to look for, and an angle to the rear leg. You never want to see any frailty,” she said.
It may seem superficial to critique a cow’s beauty, but “there’s nothing superficial or uneducated about being a farmer,” Ayars said.
By paying attention to the ways cows interact with each other and how they approach their daily routine, Ayars has developed a cow-based philosophy.
“Cows don’t care about how another cow looks. They judge by personality,” shesaid.“if one cow is being rude and causing problems for the other ones, then the other cows will bully the mean cow.”
But more often than not, bovine are sweet and gentle, only acting out when their basic needs are neglected.
Ayars doesn’t think you have to be born into the business and lifestyle of dairy farming. Frye, 23, an Ohio State veterinary school graduate student studying for her master’s degree in animal science, didn’t milk a cow until she was 20 years old.
“They have so much personality. Even on a bad day, they never have a mean bone in their body,” said Frye, of Mount Gilead, who “fell in love” with dairy cows.
Ayars recognizes Frye’s passion, noting that it takes commitment for Frye to wake up at 4:15 a.m., then end the day at 8:30 p.m.
“It’s not a lifestyle you just walk into. You have to be infatuated,” said Ayars, as she looked over to Frye in approval. “Maybe you even have to be crazy.”