The winner of the show beat out all 142 other contestants in appearance and quality, but she was left near speechless when asked what the victory meant to her.
“Moo” was her only response.
The MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education was filled with hundreds of people and just as many bails of hay for the Michigan Spring Dairy Show and Sale held Friday and Saturday. The annual event has been held at MSU for the past five years.
Friday night featured the Michigan Holstein Association Show. Holsteins, a cow breed, were rated against each other in appearance quality. Kevin Smith, chairman of the show, said this year’s event hosted more animals than ever before.
“This has been a great show,” he said. “Typically we have about 110 heads in here and this year we were able to bring in 143.
“The quality of animals this year has been outstanding.”
Smith added he enjoys coming to MSU for the shows he has been a part of for 30 years.
“This pavilion is a great facility and it is nice that it is all enclosed,” he said. “It is centrally located in the state, which makes it easier for more people to get out to the show.”
The Michigan Jersey Cattle Club hosted an auction Saturday afternoon, selling 35 animals. Club member Melanie Piepkow said the average selling price was $1,500 per animal.
“The sale went quite well,” she said. “We didn’t have as many animals as we usually do, but the ones we had were great.”
Piepkow has been working at the sales for 17 years, taking care of the animals up for auction.
“A lot of times the sellers can’t be here or they have more than one animal for sale,” she said. “Someone has to be here to make sure they are all OK.”
Addison, Mich., resident Jolene Crabtree came out for the event with her husband and two daughters to purchase a cow for their farm. She said they go to many shows in search of good quality animals.
“There are a lot of nice animals here and from what I can see the sale went well,” Crabtree said. “The show last night was also great.”
Crabtree purchased a baby calf Saturday.
“She was actually just born here last night,” she said. “When you can see the mother and meet the owners you know you are getting a good animal.”
