Goodells, Michigan, site of the St Clair County 4H Fair, is the real thing. It’s at the base of what we call the thumb, far removed from metro Detroit and about 20 miles west of Port Huron. It’s an agricultural area, with a lot of livestock and dairy. Many of the kids participate in the 4H agricultural programs from the time they’re old enough to walk. They raise animals, then show them and sell them at the fair. There are some show animals, particularly horses, but most are what they call “market animals.” Livestock that will be sold at auction and slaughtered at one of the local facilities that specialize in that. The kids handle the whole deal, right up to loading the animals for transport to the slaughter house. I asked a lady I know who has raised six kids and countless grandchildren up there if the kids don’t get upset when their animals are sold. “No,” she said. “That never occurs to them. They know that dogs, cats and horses are pets, and most of the other animals are food.” She told me that her 9 year old granddaughter, who had raised a hog named Sparkle, asked grandma to buy her at the auction. “I want to see what she tastes like,” she said, quite innocently. Sparkle, like the other animals is food, not a pet.
Some of this may seem heartless to us city folk. In the gallery, you’ll see youngsters forcing lambs to pose in a way that shows off their meaty legs. The lambs, quite frankly, didn’t see, to mind. They’ve been practicing that pose since they were old enough to stand. The Grand Champion Wether lamb, which was raised by a teenage boy, sold for $4.50 a pound, and he was a stout animal. (A Wether lamb, I learned is a castrated Ram.) An interesting day to say the least. https://www.photo.net/gallery/1107284#//Sort-Newest/All-Categories/All-Time/Page-1 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
