Allie and Layla at the state fair

The first weekend in October, Allie competed with her 4H lambs at the state fair and did very well. I was thrilled to be able to make it to watch her and hang out with Layla. Allie worked hard with her lambs, taking care of them, practicing, and traveling to lots of shows. We're so proud of her.

(click on the thumbnails for bigger versions)




Once in the ring, the kids have to handle the sheep without any kind of halter or lead, just their hands to guide them around the ring and set them up for the judge. It can't be easy controlling an animal that's as tall as your chest and outweighs you! Allie won Grand Champion in the Arkansas Bred competition with one of her lambs.


After a long day of hanging out in the livestock barn, Layla was a little antsy, so I took her on a couple of fair rides (a caterpillar roller coaster and the Scramber -- she's a brave four-year-old!) and into the children's petting zoo and education tent. It was nice to have another indoor place to let her run around, because the weather was awful that day; when it wasn't drizzling, it was pouring down rain.



In the education tent, there was a life-size statue of a holstein set up with rubber tube "udders" and a feed line running to a bucket of "milk" substance. Layla absolutely loved milking the cow. She named it Sarah, patted it, and praised it for standing so still. :)