FRYEBURG — They pull. They tug. They grunt.
And that’s just the trainers of the dairy-show cows who parade around the ring before trying to line the cattle up like show horses for the judge.
“That’s a lovely box rump,” said the judge as he looked over the backsides of six dairy cows during the milking and dry shorthorn cows dairy show at the Fryeburg Fair on Wednesday morning.
Thousands of people from across the country showed up for the fourth day of the eight-day fair that runs through Sunday.
“They’re looking for condition,” said Trudy Johnson of Sandy River Farms in Farmington moments after she came out of the show ring with “Lilly.” Judges look at the cow’s height, weight and other factors, she said.
Although Lilly didn’t win a premium during that show, there were two more left, Johnson said.
She and her family go to half a dozen or so fairs each summer with their dairy cows, hoping to win the top premium with some of the 170 cows, half of them milkers, that she and her family have on their farm. Her last win brought her $400 to $500 and a thermometer that she hung on the show barn at the Fryeburg Fair. It read 85 degrees in the sun early Wednesday morning.
At 42, she has been coming to the fair since she was a day old. Her mother, Brenda York, who is 76 “or so” has been coming all of her life.
They come because they love competing as a family.
Ten-year-old Madison Hodgdon of Buckfield, a student at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School, came to the fair with her brother, Hunter, to show cows. Her 9-week-old calves had to weigh in at least 500 pounds to be shown, but when they got to the fair the calves were underweight. Her brother’s 6-month-old calves weighed in above the required weight and would be able to show, she said.
It was her first time at the fair and she intends to be back next year with some of the six steers at the family’s Hodgdon Farm.
Lilly Crawford, 16, of Corinth got a lot of questions about her big steer, Anderson, named after her favorite singer, Keith Anderson.
She showed the steer in the shorthorn beef show and came in “dead last” each time, but that didn’t stop her from enjoying the attention the white steer garnered as she walked him around.
She said she would sell the steer at the Fryeburg Fair market later in the week. The asking price? $1,800. “That’s my set price,” she said with a grin.
The fair continues Thursday with oxen, draft horse, sheep and ram, and pony shows, harness racing, flower shows and horse pulling, among other events.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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- Chris Kushto of Limerick strokes the muzzle of a Standardbred harness-racing horse as he visits the 163rd annual Fryeburg Fair on Wednesday afternoon.
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- Jamie Kimball, second from right, takes a break with her daughters, Jaydn, 7, right; and Kennedy, 6, second from left; and friend Peggy Timmons, all of Windham, at the Fryeburg Fair on Wednesday. The Kimball girls are showing Holstein cows during the week.
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- Nicholas Rowe, 7, right, of New Vineyard, and Cameron Fitch, 11, of Chesterville, play around on the top rail of a cattle enclosure at the 163rd annual Fryeburg Fair on Wednesday. Rowe’s grandfather is showing cows at the fair.
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- Amy McGee of Gardiner preps her Chiangus for the show ring at the Fryeburg Fair on Wednesday.
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- Kelsey Sanborn of West Baldwin exercises her 3-month-old steers, Dave, left, and Dan in the parking lot of the Fryeburg Fair before showing them Wednesday. “Just trying to tire them out a bit before taking them into the ring,” Sanborn said.
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- Emile Castonguay washes down Prim and Proper, a Shire owned by Dan and Kathleen Hathaway of Illusion Farm in Fryeburg, as Alicia Chandler does the same with Jessie at the Fryeburg Fair on Wednesday.
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- Madison Hodgdon, 10, of Buckfield, was unable to show her calves Bru and Ted, because the young calves did not weigh enough, but she enjoyed sitting in the stall and answering questions from people walking past the stalls.
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