By ROBERT RIGGS
Kentucky Correspondent

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eunice Schlappi, dairy marketing specialist with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said she recognizes many faces each year at the Kentucky State Fair – both people and cattle.
Schlappi, who grew up in a “true” dairy farm family, said raising a show winner takes a lot of people, from breeders to owners, to the person who grooms the animals. She said showing cattle becomes a way of life and a family tradition for many who participate.

Schlappi was at the 2009 fair for work. Later, she would not admit to ever having preferred one cow over another. “How can you pick a favorite when they all have those ever-loving big brown eyes?” she asked, jokingly.

For the many farmers and agricultural workers who enter their cows and heifers in dairy competition at the Kentucky State Fair, showing is usually a great source of pride and pleasure, hard work and fun. One such exhibitor is farmer Dr. Kenny Manion, who also practices medicine in Glasgow, Ky. Like most of the other exhibitors, Manion grew up on a farm. He has been showing cattle since he was nine years old.

Despite his practice at the Glasgow Urgent Care Center, Manion is active almost on a daily basis in raising and exhibiting his cattle. Passionate about the business, he enjoys the rewards of the exhibitor’s lifestyle. His New View Swiss Farm showed for four days this year.

Manion’s operation won Premier Exhibitor and Breeder of Brown Swiss cattle. His partnership with friends Pat and Stacey Elmore of Elizabethtown also won some junior Swiss awards for the Elmore children, Logan and Jordon.

Another passionate exhibitor is Andi Branstetter, who grew up on a family dairy farm in Edmonton, Ky. She said some of her family’s favorite times together have been at cattle shows. Her story is a window into the hard work and joy that can be a big part of the life on a family farm.

Branstetter studied business and agriculture at the University of Kentucky and after college she worked at the Georgia Agriculture Commodity Commission for Milk as a dairy educator. She believes her passion for all things agricultural stems from living on her father’s farm.

“Growing up on the farm and showing cattle taught us a lot about the value of working hard and working as a team,” said Branstetter.
She is a product manager for an animal health company in Lexington, but her family’s Style Crest Farm took 2009’s overall Kentucky Dairy Production Award She and her brother still exhibit dairy cattle with the family and Style Crest.

Her older sister, however, has her own family and show string. “It is exciting to meet up with her and, sometimes, actually compete in the showring,” Branstetter said.

Describing the heart of the work she does at a show, she described exhibiting as “chores, chores, chores and then show day.” Chores include feeding, watering, haying, milking, bedding and washing. The night before the show they wash the animals late and take shifts staying up to make sure they remain clean.

On show day, they put finishing touches on the animals, line up show halters, water just enough and nervously wait for go-time. Then comes the walk to the showring. Communicating and planning is important, said Branstetter.

“Who leads which animal and who stays back at the barn to keep the show string clean and prepped are important, and have to be worked out beforehand. Then, as you go, you hope for a first-place finish and the chance to go back for a shot at junior or senior champion,” she said.

Branstetter concluded that showing is exhausting and after the show many people take a nap.

“I can remember my brother and I, or my sister and I, sharing a bed and not caring one bit because we were exhausted,” she said.