CNJ staff photo: Liliana Castillo J.W. Baldock, front, helps his son Garrett tie up his show heifer in the dairy barn Wednesday at the Curry County Fair. Garrett won the showmanship award during the dairy heifer show Wednesday morning.
Raising a dairy heifer is fun, hard work.
That’s what some youths at the Curry County Fair say after providing day-to-day care for their animals, all leading them towards the fair and livestock shows.
Kasson Huysman, 14, received fourth place for his dairy heifer in Wednesday’s dairy heifer show.
Huysman raised his Class 1 heifer, while raising pigs and sheep to show at the fair.
“It’s just fun. It’s something to do to get out of the house and school a little bit,” Huysman said with a chuckle.
Huysman said he prefers to raise and show pigs.
“They’re easier to show and they’re my favorite animal,” he said. “You don’t have to halter break (a pig), you just follow them around with a stick.
For the Baldock family, showing at the fair is a family affair.
Garrett, 12, and Ethan, 8, both show heifers at the fair.
Garrett, who raised two heifers this year, won one of two showmanship awards in Class 3.
“I like the learning experience of it,” Garrett said.
His mother, Tammy Baldock, said the experience of raising an animal is good for children because it teaches them responsibility and discipline.
“It’s hard work,” Baldock said. “But it’s a lot of fun.”
Garrett said it’s easy to take good care of an animal.
“You just feed it, wash it, walk it and get it things,” he said. “That’s all.”
J.W. Baldock said his sons’ heifers will go back to Blackridge Dairy in Friona. They will be fed for a year, then be put to work as milk cows after they give birth to their first calf.
