Dairy day 3,4 and 5!

I kind of lost steam after the first few days on the blogging! So here is a quick wrap-up of our week:

Wednesday brought the Great Dairy Adventure and thousands of local kids to the pavilion to learn about cows and milk and farming, etc. The dairy kids in the barn get a kick out of talking about what they do. Several volunteers work different stations each telling a different part about dairy farming. It is always enlightening to realize how little people know about where there food comes from -- which is why they can be easily swayed with the wrong information about modern farming practices. (I won't get on my soapbox about this now...maybe later!)

Wednesday night the Junior Holstein kids hosted a "party barn" with games and food. It is good for the kids to take a break from all the work and competition to just hang out together. For a lot of them they don't have many friends at home that understand their love of cows -- so it is good for these kids to have the time to get to know each other. I am sure some long-time friendships are being made this week.

Thursday was another early day with the Holstein and Jersey shows starting at 8:00. Lucas and Eric both had a better day then they did on Tuesday. Lucas had one animal named All-Michigan and one Res. Jr All-Michigan and Eric's Jersey was honorable mention Jr Champion of the Junior Show. In the afternoon they both had showmanship contests and Anna was in the pee-wee show. Her calf had come in heat the day before so she had to use one of Lucas' calves. She was a good sport about it considering she was really counting on showing Tammy.

Thursday night was the 4-H awards banquet. Eric did not do as well as he had last year so that was disappointing for him. But the Junior Team with Lucas and his friends did really well - first place in judging and third in quiz bowl.

Friday was an easy day since we were all done showing. The boys hung around to watch and help others and start tearing everything down. They were all back home by that evening.

It is a whirlwind week for sure -- but it builds memories for these kids that will last forever. We have one week home and then we are at the fair!

Laura