Published: September 07, 2007 02:58 pm            

Cover story: Went for a walk; a classroom opened up

Originally published in the September 7, 2007, print edition.

A walk down the street turned into an impromptu classroom for Ann and Michael Petersen and Ann’s sidekick, Meg.

“I just needed to take Meg for a walk,” Ann said. Meg, Petersen’s registered Milking Shorthorn junior summer yearling, acted like an urbanite magnet.

Many of the people attending the Minnesota State Fair have never seen a live dairy heifer, let alone be able to walk right up to one on the street. So when they were given the opportunity, many took it.

That “walk” down Judson Avenue on the north side of the Lee and Rose Warner Coliseum on Aug. 24 turned in a “stand,” and Petersen could have sold chances to pet Meg; licks would be extra.

“You can pet her,” Ann told a hesitant youth, “she likes to give kisses.” Sure enough, an unsuspecting youth was treated to a rough-tongued cowlick “kiss.”

“What is that,” a young girl asked her mother. “That’s a cow,” the mother replied.

Ann took her time to explain to young and old alike such things as what Meg eats, how much the heifer weighs, what she will weigh when full grown and what breed she is.

“I do this every year,” Ann said. “I hear a lot of different questions from the people. ... They’ll ask you pretty much everything.”

Ann, a sophomore at Canby High School, and her family could have a field day for urbanites wanting to learn more about livestock. In addition to Meg, the Petersens’ Yellow Medicine County farmstead is home to about 50 head of cattle, 150 goats, sheep, poultry and horses. Ann and Michael admitted that their farm has been called “the funny farm” or “the zoo” for its abundance and variety of livestock species.

Ann prefers the dairy cows, Michael doesn’t show a preference and their older sister, Christine, showed a goat at the State Fair, getting fifth in her class, good enough for a blue ribbon. Christine was called back for senior showmanship where she earned a purple.

Ann and Meg didn’t fair so well, earning a red ribbon. Ann did get fourth place for herdsmanship, earning her an award of excellence. That was a little letdown from the 2006 fair when Ann and an older dairy cow earned reserve champion for Milking Shorthorn dairy cows. That cow was to make a return visit to the 2007 State Fair, but she had recently calved.

“I don’t come to the State Fair for the awards, I just go up for the fun,” she said.

In addition to dairy, Ann had earned trips to the State Fair with beef, goats, sheep, poultry and indoor projects, but a 4-H’er can only bring one livestock project and one non-livestock project.

Kevin and Marlys Petersen, parents of Ann, Michael and Christine, and keepers of the menagerie, can be proud of the lessons her children taught that day on Judson Avenue at the 2007 Minnesota State Fair.

        

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