Photo Karen Graham.
Double Vision offspring.
Most families on a typical Saturday can be found at a local sports field supporting their child’s passion for playing sports. For our family, throughout the summer months, our Saturdays look a little different. They often start at the barn at 5 am getting our cattle washed and prepared to head to a local fair. As we show Charolais, a pure white cattle breed, this can be a tedious task to start off the day. People often wonder why we love exhibiting and showing so much. “What’s the point?” they ask, but for our family, there are so many reasons to love it. From teaching our children the ins and outs of proper animal husbandry, respect for animals and others, to when it comes time for the judge to shake your hand to let you know your hard work and all the dedicated hours spent on preparation and practising has paid off: receiving that championship ribbon is just like scoring the winning goal in overtime.
Agricultural Fairs are an important asset to our communities for educational reasons but also as a way of bringing everyone together in a small town atmosphere that can’t be matched by any other event. My partner Tyler and I strongly believe that the community ties and friendships we have built at the Fair are the ones we treasure most. Many started when we were 10 or12 years old exhibiting our 4-H calves here in Millbrook. Now, a few decades later, we help one another to ensure those same opportunities are there for the upcoming generations.
It’s always great to see the many returning familiar faces as well as new ones each year. The Peewee showmanship division is the highlight of our day as all of the children under 9 years old who wish to try showing a calf may enter the ring with an adult’s help and practice their skills. For us this gets our family of four all in the ring at once assisting our 3 and 8 year old children. Our little one this year was asked by the judge if he liked showing his heifer. He shared that he did like showing her and taking care of her but if he was being truly honest that he just liked tractors better! At 3 years old he has already developed a strong excitement for all things agriculture and much of that we can attest is from being a part of the cattle show and other events Millbrook fair has to offer each year.
By Ashley McNevan, Over the Top Cattle
