All of the above are sounds from the Smalltown Regional Junior Livestock Show now on proud display at the local fairgrounds next to the carnival rides and bric-a-brac booths. I stopped by tonight to admire the clipped and coiffed animals and their proud owners in jeans, cowboy boots, button-down shirts and silver-studded leather belts. The Livestock Queen posed with all the winners with her dark hair, sparkling tiara, and Pepsodent dazzling smile. After the clean-scrubbed beauty of the queen and her court it was a contrast to go into the pig pens and see giant pink porkers rooting and snorting. It made me want to put up a hot dog stand right beside them that said Dine With Swine.
I watched the judging going on in the ring as the proud young 4H and FFA exhibitors marched their animals around for the audience in the stands on three sides to all get a good look. If I were judging, I'd make my decisions based on how much or how little the animals looked like puppies. The more puppylike the better. Those floppy-eared sheep and lop rabbits that looked huggable would all get ribbons from me. Of course that's not how it works really.
It was mighty hard for this citified gal to fully process how the judges made their decisions about the "muscular" "balanced" lambs chosen for the coveted fair ribbons and prize money for college funds. They all looked muscular enough to wrestle each other and win. In fact I saw a couple of lambs with heads intertwined testing each other's muscularity, if that's a word. They had more than enough muscles to butt each other's heads now and then and balk at their owners pulling them into the ring. Those were some of the most balanced lambs I've ever seen too, not that I've run into any unbalanced ones. "Help! I'm being chased by an unbalanced lamb!" All the lambs stood evenly on all four of their legs and not a one of them fell down.
I watched the judging going on in the ring as the proud young 4H and FFA exhibitors marched their animals around for the audience in the stands on three sides to all get a good look. If I were judging, I'd make my decisions based on how much or how little the animals looked like puppies. The more puppylike the better. Those floppy-eared sheep and lop rabbits that looked huggable would all get ribbons from me. Of course that's not how it works really.
It was mighty hard for this citified gal to fully process how the judges made their decisions about the "muscular" "balanced" lambs chosen for the coveted fair ribbons and prize money for college funds. They all looked muscular enough to wrestle each other and win. In fact I saw a couple of lambs with heads intertwined testing each other's muscularity, if that's a word. They had more than enough muscles to butt each other's heads now and then and balk at their owners pulling them into the ring. Those were some of the most balanced lambs I've ever seen too, not that I've run into any unbalanced ones. "Help! I'm being chased by an unbalanced lamb!" All the lambs stood evenly on all four of their legs and not a one of them fell down.
1 comment:
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All the lambs stood evenly on all four of their legs and not a one of them fell down.
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And nobody had to run around them with bits of pasteboard, folding and stacking, shoving shims under their sheep hooves, balancing so they didn't rock back and forth when standing at attention to be judged. Rock steady on, y'know.
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