By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

HAMILTON, Ohio — Zack Davidson, age nine and a half, would like to be a dairy farmer some day but his mom said he had to get a scholarship and go to college first.

Zack was at the Butler County Fair with his family showing dairy cows – Holsteins and Guernsey’s. He had won some ribbons and liked the fair.

“It’s fun,” Zack said. “I like the competition.”

His dad, Gary, agreed that the fair was fun but admitted that some of the luster had worn off since he had been showing since he was Zack’s age and was now 42.

“Get them ready at home is the hard part,” Gary said. “Body clipping.”

They used adhesive to make the cows hair on the backline stand up but Davidson said he didn’t want to say that aloud or “somebody will say they don’t want to drink milk—it’s got adhesive in it.”

The Davidson family farm is in Hillsboro where Ray, Gary’s dad, has been milking more than 45 years. The farm is a family farm of about 400 acres. They have 20 Guernsey and 40 Holstein cattle. Gary’s brothers Gerald and Charles and a sister, Frances, all take part. The dairy business has not been great, Gary said. Milk prices are low.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if the prices hadn’t gone up so high but then dairy prices went down and nothing else did,” he said.

The family goes to five or six fairs a year. Zack and his sisters, Caitlin and Natasha show in 4-H at the Highland County Fair.
On Tuesday the three kids milked the cows for the public milking. People sat on risers to watch as the kids led the cow up the ramp, washed her udder and attached the milking machine.

Caitlin, age 12, had won the open showmanship class. She said she had fun working with the cows, not just at fair time but all year long.
“We pick which cows are going to the fair by their looks and how good their temperaments are,” she said. “The ones that we take have good temperaments ... those are the good ones to let the little kids pet.”

Natasha, age five, had won a ribbon for a Guernsey she had shown. She helps feed the cows at home.

“There’s this big cow that we have, she’s Grandma, and she walks slow; I can lead her by myself,” Natasha added.

The one comment echoed by all the Davidsons was: “Fairs are fun.”