Milk Maid

Minnesota’s annual state fair is the King of State Fairs. It isn’t called the “Great Minnesota Get Together” for nothing. Sure, there’s a lot of people.

But, the people watching is always a treat and navigating the crowds isn’t too bad as long as you go with the flow of traffic.

My favorite people to people watch are the ones that win those giant stuffed animals on the midway then are forced to carry them around with them the rest of the day.

On Saturday when I attended the fair, I saw a gentleman that won two giant animals that took up most of a bench with him. It made me laugh.

The weather was absolutely beautiful on Saturday. It was the perfect day to enjoy the fair and for livestock exhibitors to show their animals.

The only animal that went to the state fair for 4-H livestock weekend from our farm was our Dutch steel junior doe “Nugget.”

Nugs was born on our farm this spring and she was born with the knowledge that she was special. I had a great spring with my rabbits, I was please with the quality of the rabbits I had.

I have only shown two of my youngsters all summer.

The others have been shelved so they can keep condition for the fair season. It’s been exciting to get them to the show table. Saturday was a very proud day for me as a rabbit breeder.

Besides Nugget winning her class and Reserve Champion Dutch, my cousins and other kids I sold rabbits to found success with purple ribbons. It was a fun day.

Once my brother won his trip with Nugget in July, her diet was slightly altered to help her keep and gain condition. Summer is a tough season to do that, but we worked hard at it. We also worked really hard at practicing showmanship.

A lot of studying rabbit books, practicing handling Nugget, answering questions and more were all part of the state fair 4-H preparation.

A lot of hopping and cheering was done at the 4-H rabbit show on Saturday because the Minneota area rabbits were at the top of their classes and placed extremely well.

There were 350 rabbit exhibitors for the 4-H show and Minneota was well represented. I was so proud of my brother and of course Nugget.

Minnesota is one of the toughest states for competition and winning your class is quite the honor. My favorite thing I tried on Saturday was the blueberry key lime pie. It was amazing! If I go back to the state fair this weekend for FFA and open class competitions, I will be headed back for more.

After all, Minnesota is the King of State Fairs!