More From The Fair

Since everyone liked the last post, I have a few more photos to share.

One of the joys of walking through the barns at a county fair is seeing the pride that people take in their animals. We were there on the first day and so got to see people decorating the stalls.

I’m always amazed at how the dairy cow’s whites are so… white! This one is getting a clipping after her bath.

These are working farm animals. They arrive dirty. This ram didn’t have a clean spot on his body.

The bathing and clipping takes skill and patience.

Once the work is done, the sheep wear protective coats.

Some sheep have snazzier outfits than others!

I’ve never seen a goat with a coat on. I’ve a feeling these girls are quite opinionated about the fashion they’re willing to wear.  Simple silver collars are all that they will put up with need.

Comments:

  1. Terry: I always love/loved going to the Minnesota State Fair. But this year, there were no pigs allowed because of swine flu. That meant no big momma sow with all the little piglets. :( I now go to the Arizona State Fair. JUST a little different. Not all the animals are there every day like in MN or TX. One day is sheep and llamas, one day is cows, one day is fowl and rabbits; no horses anymore at all.

  2. Beautiful animals and colorful attire too. At the San Diego Fair this year, I saw several goats wearing t-shirts or shirts w/ snaps. It was cool inside with the fans on and some had short fur. I think this might be why some were dressed. For the most part, I don’t see too many goats with clothes on.

  3. Sometimes baby goats get jackets to wear to keep warm. It’s adorable. But can you imagine what Pip and Caper would do to goat clothes?!

    • My daughter shows goats at our fair. They can get stressed out with all the changes, and after you’ve bathed them and clipped them to make them beautiful, they can get cold. Not to mention dirty, and you don’t want to have to bathe them again. So she “dresses” her goat at fair every night before leaving the barn. Those “lambjams” are pretty snazzy, huh! Our are tie-dye!

      • I’ve heard of goats getting the sniffles from the fair. Maybe goats that go to fairs are more tolerant of getting dressed? :)

  4. Lovely photos! Thanks for sharing. Hope the little black lamb in the fancy coat won best dressed.

  5. So interesting. It’s been years since I ever even thought of going to a state fair. All those wasps and all that pollen! But old age seems to have cured me of allergies. The closest fair here must be in Maryland somewhere–or possibly even West Virginia. In the meantime, I love your photos! Thanks for posting! My oldest daughter lives in Scotland. I’ll have to ask her if they ever put clothes on their sheep or goats.

  6. Great pictures Terry. My daughter in law is from Ireland and got a kick out of seeing sheep with coats on when we went to the Big E a few weeks ago. We had a lot of fun looking at all the animals but I was disappointed that there were no chickens. We weren’t able to go to any of the local county fairs where they do have poultry so I was hoping to see some chickens at the Big E. They did have the baby chicks that were hatching and as always they were so adorable.

    • The various animal shows don’t last the whole fair, so I go on-line and check the fair schedule. I made a point of going to the Fryeburg on the day with the dairy goats.