Results: North St. Louis County Fair

As I write this, the cattle and kids should be home from the North St. Louis County Fair (Chisholm, MN). It's a local event, though not our county fair, held about an hour from our house. The North St. Louis folks always show us hospitality and provide bedding and hay for hungry critters, not to mention some of the best midway fair food around.

Jack, Marcy and Courtney took nine head to the show. That consisted of:

• Two cow-calf pairs (0806 and a heifer calf and 0302 and a bull calf);
• Four yearling heifers; and
• One yearling bull

There's not a whole lot of beef cattle at this event, but it's a good show to get out and get the cattle ready for the Itasca County Fair. Here's how we did:

Judge for the day was Troy Salzer, Carleton County Extension Agent. Jack reported that there wasn't much in terms of competition.

Heifer calf was a lone entry and thus placed first.

In the yearling class, it went: 0914, 0929, 0947 and 0926 - aka, "Fatty Patty." Jack's comments: "He grouped the big, showy heifers and then the working class heifers." The Angus Junior division champion was 0914.

In the cow-calf division, each won their respective class. The champion Angus Cow-Calf pair was 0302 and her bull calf over 0806. "He had a hard time between these two because 0302 has an April calf, but she's a beautiful cow. [The judge] asked me why she calved so late (compared to 0806 who calved early February). I told him it was because she didn't stick AI," Jack said.

Overall champion Angus went to 0302 and her bull calf, beating 0914 for the honor. My mom, Mary, was on the halter working 0302 and did a great job - so much that the judge even winked at her!

In the bull division we had a bull calf and yearling bull (0910). Each won their respective class, with 0910 winning the Angus bull division.

Overall Champion Female: 0302 and bull calf, Shady Oaks Farm
Reserve Champion Female: Darwin Porter
Overall Champion Male: 0910, Shady Oaks Farm
Reserve Champion Male: Bull calf, Shady Oaks Farm
Overall Herd: Shady Oaks Farm

So, all-in-all a very good day. Jack caught up with the Nortons, who used to have beautiful Gelbvieh cattle on "da range." They sold out a few years ago and now travel by RV to work on Habitat for Humanity houses, spending much of their time in Brookings, SD. Their daughter, Sharla, lives on a ranch near Pierre, SD. Dad gave out my contact information; I'm looking forward to catching up with them.

Next show, the Itasca County Fair in three weeks!