08/31/07 Fair fun

After watching the steer judging at our local fair, I decided a whole bunch has changed since I last showed a steer. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to explain. A group of friends and I were watching the steer judging at our fair today and decided some things have certainly changed since we showed steers a few years ago  ok, quite a few years ago. The changes weren't so much how a steer is groomed and presented since you can only do so much to pretty up a steer. We were thinking more about the safety for the animals and the young steer owners. I can remember unloading steers down a wide ramp between two metal buildings with no fence at the end. More than one steer was so excited about being at the fair and all the fun that awaited, they would quickly deposit their handler mashed against a corrugated metal building and head for the carnival. There's just something about a fun loving steer checking out the ferris wheel that says it's fair time. It also seemed like every fair placed the wash racks for the steers about one quarter mile from the steer barns that could only be reached by leading your animal through half the fair crowds. In those years, it just seemed to be an unwritten law that if you went to the fair where there were animals you just might be to meet one of those animals up close and personable. Now the steers are unloaded very close to the steer barns with plenty of panels to calm an excitable steer quickly and the wash racks are about twenty feet from the steer barn back doors. There aren't near as many stories to talk about this way, but it's a lot safer for the steers and kids. I'm Jeff Keane.