Culpeper Madison Rappahannock Farm Fair Show

On Monday night the Culpeper Rappahannock Madison Farm Fair ended on a bit of an ironic note. The children here at the fair are in 4-H clubs. The 4-H has taught them responsibility for they have cared for the animals they have brought here today, milked them, fed them, purchased food for them, vaccinated and dewormed them and now it is time to sell them to the slaughterhouse. For these children this is not a sad parting. Rather that livestock are grown for food is one of the life lessons taught to these youngsters in this program. The 4-H prizes handed out for best of show and other competitions are for the beefiest beef, the hog with the fattest haunches, the goat that will yield the most milk. This is not beauty show but a lesson in nature grounded in practicality.

Carlson Farm

The auction house here is surrounded by corrals which is where we find Michelle Carson from Rixleyville. She is here with her homeschooled children Rachel, 18; Grace, 9; Jamie, 20, and Michael, 14. Her sister Meghan from Stafford is also here with her 13 year old daughter Jillian. They came to the fair the night before to set up and have come early to the fair at 6:00 AM today in time for the Dairy Goat Show. The women are wearing green 4-H shirts.

Of her goats she says, “The dairy goats we milk and use for our own consumption. We makes goats, cheese, soap. We sell meat goats to the fair and private buyers. There is a pretty growing market for that.” Asked what kind of goats she has she says, “We have Nubians and Alpines.”

Goats are divided into two types: dairy and meat goats. The difference is the dairy goats like the Nubians and the Alpines produce far more milk than it needs. You couldn’t milk a meat goat like a Boer or Spanish goat because there would not be enough milk left over for their offspring. Michelle’s goats produce milk pretty much year round. Like a wet nurse they will continue to lactate as long as they are milked. She says, “You can dry them up or continue to milk about a month before they kid.” (To “kid” means to give birth in goat parlance.)

Michelle says, “We have 9 [goats] at our house. You have to milk them in the morning and at night.” This is a 1 ½ hour process every day, twice per day.

At the dairy goat show the children parade their goats in a circle while a woman wearing a bonnet pokes the animals with her finger. This judge, Becky Dilella, hails from Dixie Does farm in Southwest Virginia. With her bonnet and simple farm dress she looks like one of the religious from Jerry Falwell's Liberty Baptist College. After the show she is headed off with her own goats to a national competition in Kentucky.

Meadowdean Farm

At the booth next to Michelle another family is grooming their goats getting ready for the competition to be held at 9:00 o’clock that morning. The goats have been given a close hair cut and the children are all wearing white.

University student Kaitlin Flathers of Meadowdean Farm is placing trophies on a table in the auction barn. She says she is, “A graduate of this having grown up and done this myself.” She says the awards are paid for by the Culpeper Rappahannock Madison fair through tractor pull ticket sales and advertising sold in the Culpeper, Madison, and Rappahannock Farm Show newspaper published by the Culpeper Times. Her little brother is walking around with black cowboy boots, a black hat, and a red t-shirt that stretches to his knees. They have 20 goats on their 192 acre farm. At their booth one child has written a poem in big letters across from the sign that says “Top 10 reasons to own a goat”. Kate explains that the family actually forgot the poster with the 10 top reasons to own a goat so one is left wonder what those 10 reasons could be. Their poem on goat rearing offers some clues:

Their milk is supreme,

And so is their ice cream.

Say good by to those weeds,

But hello to great cheese.

Chevon is quite fine,

On which to dine.

Jim Massie

At the other end of the series of connected paddocks teenage girls are showing dairy cattle. One magnificent 1,300 pound animal is being led into position by another magnificent animal: a rather tall and strong teenage girl. Its sort of comical to recall the notion that while certain dog owners are said to look like their dogs this corn fed female looks something like her Holstein heifer. Both are equally attractive.

In the next paddock are row after row of sleeping hogs. Every single hog is sleeping so deeply that they appear dead. But dead they are not for Jim Massie reaches into the one of the bins here and loudly slaps one of the hairless pigs with a flat hand. The hog squeals having been woken up rudely.

Jim Massie is here from the Rappahannock County Livestock club. The name “Massie” is an old one in Rappahannock. Jim’s first cousin is Dr. Tom Massie who runs the Rosewood large animal veterinary.

He says, “Our club is small. We used to have a very large club. Now we have 6 at the peak we had 15 or 16. Its increasingly harder to compete for children’s time.”

Asked about his Rappahannock farm he says, “We have a cow calf operation.” He explains that the cows that he raises in winter they keep until the spring but rising costs are a concern. “With the increased cost of production and the grain costs which have skyrocketed I am going to be looking in the fall at selling them rather than carrying them over and selling the grain to the granaries. We sell calves born in the fall sell in the fall of the following year. The spring calves born this year they’ll go possible in 2009.”

Jim sells his cattle either through direct sales and the feeder cattle sales like the Fauquier Feeder Cattle Association auction in Marshall. He raises feeder cattle to 600 or 700 pounds before they are shipped off to confined feeding operations where they are fed corn to rapidly put on an additional 500 to 600 pounds before they are slaughtered. Ask why he does not finish off the cattle himself he explains that he does not farm enough corn for that.

Returning to the 4-H club he explains that the pigs here are called “swine”. He says, “The majority of the kids purchase their feeder pigs in march. Then become “shote” [75-150 lbs]. Then they become “hogs”. They will have them a little more than 100 days. They will take care of them before they bring then to the fair.”

Lileemzo Farm

When you walk into the paddock where the Leppke family is tending their goats the first thing you notice is how friendly these animals are. They are not flighty like some Spanish meat goats or goats that have been raised on vast open pastures. These hand-raised dairy goats long for attention and press any visitor to pet them.

Shari is the matron of this family of Linsday, 19; Levi, 16; Emma, 13; and Zoe, 11 the first letters of whose names collectivity spell Li-Le-Em-Zo or “Leleemzo” which is the name of their 25 acre farm in Fauquier County in Midland, Virginia. Their they have 20 dairy and meat goats, donkeys, and chickens. The family belongs to the Udderly Best Dairy and Meat Goat Club located in Culpeper.

Lindsay is a bright eyed young woman who speaks with the confidence of youth. She explains that at the goat show today, “There are 9 families [in their club] and 8 of them are here.” Asked what today’s judge will be looking for she says that in a dairy goat the judge is looking for an animal that can produce with a good strong back and good udder attachment. In other words those teats cannot be just handsome—they must be functional. This is no beauty show. Accolades go to the practical animals not necessarily the most ascetically pleasing.

Her mother Shari says of her club, “We have 2 families with large couple hundred acre farms.” In other words 2 of the families actually work at farming and the others aspire to work at farming or are hobby farmers. Shari continues, “We lived in Sterling. We wanted a different life for our kids. We both grew up on farms. We moved here and we stated home schooling.” She says the 4-H club gives them, “ The confidence, the responsibility, the integrity through having animals and showing them.” Each child has their own charge account at the farmers cooperative. They keep track of expense and income.” So the 4-H teaches fiscal responsibility as well.

Levi is the sole male in this bevy of females. Asked who he tends his goats he is rather shy. But when pressed he says that he has learned to give the goats vaccinations himself and to deworm them. The goat he has brought to show today is called “Nemo”. The children giggle when then say the word of this Disney character. Levi says he trims his goats hooves and rotates them to different paddocks during the week.

His sister Emma has a Nubian goat a type which is bred for dairy. The one she has today is called “Haleiwa” a female born April 24, 20004. Shari says this goat produces 2 to 3 kids every year and since they are registered the females are sold for $250 apiece through the American Dairy Association. The males are less fortunate go for less money fetching something like $75 at the auction. Such is man’s plight.

Like so many hobby farmers Shari wasp up by explaining that her husband is a commuter. “My husband works in Reston. That’s what pays the bill. He’d love to be a farmer.”

The Auction

At the last night of this 5 day event all of the animals here are sold at auction. Cattle go first followed by lamb, goats, and then swine. The best of show dairy cow is paraded around the ring by its handler. The auction begins and the animal sells for $5 per pound. When the lamb are brought in a young boy of maybe 9 years old skids across the floor kicking up dust as he is unable to hang onto the spry creature.

Culpeper Madison Rappahannock Farm Fair Show

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