Cows, Senators, and Hurricane Isaias
On Friday we had a trip planned to the Georgia National Fair in Perry, organized by Caroline. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive, with livestock shows and competitions, classic fair food, and a mysterious event called the Livestock Legislative Showdown. It looked like a very well-planned day. The weather, however, had other plans.
Two days earlier, we’d gotten a message from Abigail. Tropical Storm Isaias was heading toward the Gulf Coast, and there was a chance it would become a major hurricane. Georgia wasn’t necessarily going to take a direct hit, but the rain, high winds, and risk of tornadoes were enough to make us wonder whether the trip was still a good idea.
On the morning we left, though, our first visitor wasn’t the hurricane. It was the neighbor’s cat. Very relaxed, very friendly, and completely uninterested in the forecast. We had a two-and-a-half-hour drive ahead of us. All she needed was a few pets.
After two and a half hours on the road, we arrived at the Georgia National Fair. The first surprise was the parking lot: cars as far as the eye could see, RVs and livestock trailers, school buses, and crowds of people. Kids, families, breeders, animals, and a general bustle that showed us right away how big this event was.
A Beauty Salon for Livestock
In the exhibition barns, we found a whole world devoted to getting animals ready for competition.
There were all kinds of cows, and each had its own beauty routine. The dairy cows were clipped very carefully to show off their bone structure and conformation. The beef cattle, on the other hand, were so fluffy and adorable that you just wanted to squeeze them. Given their size, that wasn’t exactly a practical idea.
Then came the goats, dressed in colorful little coats, with their legs wrapped so they wouldn’t get dirty before the show. Everyone took the prep work very seriously. Before going into the ring, the animals were clipped, brushed, and carefully groomed, then blown off with air jets so not a speck of sawdust or straw was left on their coats. It was a real beauty salon, but with a very practical purpose: every animal had to look flawless in front of the judges.
We watched a bit of the showing in the ring, where young people led the animals with a lot of confidence. We didn’t stay for the judging, so we don’t know who won. But after seeing how much work went on behind the scenes, we understood that livestock shows here are serious business.
The 4-H and FFA organizations, whose emblems we saw everywhere, play an important role in agricultural education for young Americans. It was interesting to see that education put into practice and not just talked about in a classroom.
And just when we thought we’d seen everything a livestock fair had to offer, we found another surprise. In a pavilion devoted to educational activities, we noticed a TV showing a cow giving birth. At first we assumed it was an educational video. Except the cow was actually right there, in a pen set up in the middle of the pavilion, just a few steps away from us!
Around the pen, families with kids were watching with great interest while other educational activities went on in the rest of the pavilion. To the other visitors, it seemed perfectly normal. We were a bit baffled. Of all the experiences the Georgia National Fair had to offer, we hadn’t expected to watch a live calving with an audience less than three feet away.
It seems agricultural education here starts at birth. Literally.
A Lunch Break, with Entertainment Included
At lunchtime, we found out that the fair’s food was dominated by anything fried. Corn dogs, French fries, and all sorts of other things that had taken a dip in hot oil. There wasn’t much to choose from, so we settled for a sandwich each.
Meanwhile it had started to rain, so we took shelter in a tent. Alina got comfortable and decided to wait out the rain there. I, on the other hand, worked up my courage and set off to explore the midway.
And there was plenty to see! Carousels, spectacular rides, booths selling candy in every color, and candy apples that looked more like decorations than something you’d eat. Everywhere there were booths packed with stuffed animals of every shape and size, which you could win by popping balloons, fishing for rubber ducks, or trying your luck at all kinds of games. Just like in American movies! Only this time, we were really there.
I even ran into the fair’s mascot, a colorful, shaggy creature cruising around on a skateboard. It was unusual enough to be worth a photo.
On my way back, I brought Alina a specialty we couldn’t miss: fried Oreos. Yes, Oreo cookies dipped in batter and deep-fried. Because apparently, in America, not even cookies are safe from the fryer.
We tried them, and they didn’t win us over. At least now we know what they’re like. And I think we can live happily without ever having them again.
The Legislative Showdown.
After lunch, we went to the Livestock Legislative Showdown.
The name sounded official enough that we pictured a presentation on legislation and rules, maybe even debates about agriculture.
Surprise!
Instead of discussions about laws, we found an arena full of cows, kids, and senators.
And the senators hadn’t come just to watch or give speeches. They were the ones holding the cows by the halter and showing them in the ring, with the kids walking alongside them.
Once we got over our surprise, we saw that the event had an interesting side too: elected officials, young people, and the farming community were meeting in a much more informal setting than we would have imagined.
And the cohort’s final conclusion? It seems that no matter which career you choose – agribusiness, horticulture, environmental engineering, automation, or even politics – somehow all roads led to cows!
And the Hurricane?
All this time, Hurricane Isaias stayed somewhere in the background of our adventure. Every now and then we checked our phones to see how things were developing, especially since the weather warnings weren’t reassuring at all.
At one point we came across an image that dampened our enthusiasm: three hurricanes on the same map! We’d been worried about just one, and now we found out there were two more. We didn’t know how much they might affect us, but the image wasn’t encouraging. Especially with a two-and-a-half-hour drive home still ahead of us.
Luckily, we made it home with nothing more than a light drizzle. We brought in the patio umbrellas, as the landlord had told us to, and got ready for whatever came next.
But the surprise came overnight…
On Saturday morning, a huge branch was waiting for us in the yard. It had fallen right next to the table where we usually sat.
And it wasn’t just any branch.
It was the branch I’d kept an eye on every time I went out into the yard, wondering when it would come down. I was sure that sooner or later, it would.
Well, it did.
At least it had the decency to wait until we were inside.
The opinions expressed on this blog are our own and do not reflect the official positions of the Fulbright Program, the University of Georgia, or the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest.
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