HAMILTON, Ohio — Herb and Sarah Summe were impressed with how well their six kids did at the Butler County Fair last month. They showed a total of 26 animals, and it took two trailers but only one trip to get them to the fairgrounds.

They won a load of trophies, ribbons and a big, shiny belt buckle of which Henry, age 10, was very proud.

“You feed it and water it and basically you just have to work with it and make it good,” said Henry, who showed turkeys, goats, pigs and a feeder calf. “I won the Butler County Born and Raised Goat Show,” he added, about how he came by his belt buckle.

Katie, age 13, has shown at the fair since she was three years old. She worked with her animals – turkeys, goats, pigs, cows and sheep – almost every day and felt good about her wins. She had the Grand Champion Dairy Feeder Calf in the 4-H Born and Raised show and Reserve Champion in the open show, a Grand Champion Turkey and blue ribbons in many other divisions.

“If you work with them, the animals kind of know you and listen to you, and then you can do more with them. I try to work with every animal 20 minutes a day, but that doesn’t always happen,” she said.

Herbie, age 11, won first place in Tractor Safety. Luke, age 8, won overall in Children’s Drawings. Mary, age 5, won the Dress-Up Class with her lamb while Elizabeth, age 6 took second in Pee-Wee Sheep Showmanship.

The tradition started early. Herb and Sarah both began showing at the fair when they were in the third grade. Their kids are in the Butler County Blue Ribbon Kids 4-H Club, where Sarah is an advisor.

“They all enjoy it,” she said of the children’s 4-H experience. “It teaches them responsibility, leadership, it teaches them how to take care of themselves, how to take care of their animals, how to make money.

“Sometimes you have to nag them, I’ll be honest,” added Sarah, about getting them to take care of and work with that many animals.

Henry said it was always fun watching the animals … but it was especially fun watching them win.