Fair prep under way

Interviews, whether you like it or not, are a part of life. You have to attend

them for some colleges, you have to attend these

meetings to apply for a job, and you have to attend interviews for livestock, especially if you want to place at the fair.

Caroline, Kate, and I had to attend our annual livestock interviews and we were all nervous. We

present our project books to the judge so they can

examine them and see we have been doing the right thing when it comes to daily care for our animals. Things like cost per pound of feed per animal, cost of supplies, profit

and losses, and the animals rate of gain are all things we document in the books. Since we buy our

steers as feeder calves, the losses add up quick. Mom said she can take losses from the wallet as long as we put in the work in the barn. We have been preparing all year by filling out our project books. I guess you could say that I have to do twice the work because the columns that I write are like records of every week. If we do a great job at these interviews, the judge can pick us for outstanding interview. If we receive this award we get a ribbon at the fair.

Last week we were terrified that we wouldn’t make it to the fair. We had Panic! In the Show barn. While we were out to dinner we had an air conditioner shut down just out of the blue. When we’re

home, we’re always in and out of our cooler so we know if there’s a problem. Because we were gone, we didn’t know and the temperature was over 90 degrees! Luckily we got everyone out and and everything was fixed but if gave us all a real scare.

With the fair almost here we have a lot of stuff to do to get ready. We have to send out our sale invites, rough clip the steers, and gather the equipment we

need to load on the trailer. It’s always a hectic time but I love it because the fair is my favorite week of the year. One of my favorite parts of getting ready is rough clipping the cattle. We get to finally cut off

some of the long hair we’ve been brushing and working and see what’s hiding underneath of it. It’s usually my dad, my grandpa and my uncle clipping

but I get to clip everything they don’t like to, which tends to be heads and bellies, but I look forward to it.

We still have to send out our sale invites to our list of buyers, but anyone is welcome to come support the Junior Fair program on Friday, Aug. 6 and Saturday, Aug. 7. Without the support of all the generous buyers, it would be hard for some exhibitors to

be a part of the Auglaize County Junior Fair. Thank you for the support over the years and see you at

the greatest place on Earth, the Auglaize County Fair!