SIMPLE SCENES: Stock show

Imagine yourself in a sea of cows, surrounded by thousands of pounds of beef.

That’s how I feel when I go to one of our state’s stock shows, which attracts thousands of visitors.

Farmers and ranchers spend several days showing off animals which have taken months or years to raise.

I am a city boy. However, I have been to a farm, and I once owned two rabbits, a goldfish, and a chicken with irritable bowel. But I don’t really know animal habits.

That’s why I love the stock show. And up until recently, I didn’t know there were so many cattle breeds.

Then I found out somebody could breed cattle to improve the strength of both breeds. That also explains why I didn’t marry my cousin.

While at these shows, I walked around to see eight major hog breeds, and 50 to 70 chicken types.

But my favorite was the rabbit barn, which housed nearly 50 breeds. 

One day on a high school field trip, we visited the cattle exhibit. One of the demonstrations was a machine that could milk several cows at the same time.

A rowdy classmate noticed one machine wasn’t hooked up, so he stuck a finger in the milker. It grabbed him, and would not let go.

One of the workers heard him yell, and jumped in to save the boy. Luckily, he escaped with only a swollen finger, a verbal scolding from the field trip sponsor, and a lifelong respect for milking technology.

But for him, it was a terrible scare. And it could have been udder disaster.

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Rix Quinn

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Rix Quinn is a former magazine publisher who works as an independent biographer and broadcaster.

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