Well I’m back home from one of the biggest events I have attended so far this year, the California State Fair.

The theme for this year’s fair was “Weird, Wild and Wacky” and believe me there was some pretty weird, wild and wacky events going on. This year I had the privilege to hand out ribbons for the All California Milking Shorthorn Show as well as the Western National Guernsey Show. I had a great time at both of these shows. It always touches my heart to see the tears of joy on people’s faces and how proud they are of their cattle when they get that first place or champion ribbon. The rest of my time at the fair was spent taking care of my own cattle. When you have 5 animals and four of them milking it takes a lot of work. It starts early in the morning. You have to clean out their bedding, wash them, milk them and feed them. I started these morning chores around 5:30am and didn’t finish until about 9:00am. Then throughout the day you are feeding, washing and picking up after them. Then at night you have milking and feeding again. One of my favorite parts of doing these chores is the afternoon milking. I would milk around 6:00pm. I always seemed to draw an audience when I milked. I did enjoy people asking me questions and I can actually show folks how we get our milk. Show day is the most hectic because you have to do all these chores on top of getting you animals, as well as yourself, ready for the show ring. For my first year showing at the State Fair I feel that I did fairly well. My Senior 3 year old cow (Blizzard) was 2nd in her class with 2nd best udder. I also had the 3rd place best 3 females and 2nd place dairy herd. I also received the 1st place dairy herdsman award for my category. I really had a great time this year and I look forward to showing people how we get our milk again next year!

Your District 5 Dairy Princess,
Katherine Nissen