Working a small knife by and forth, Howard Cain carefully crafts a wood harness for an ox.
The shavings of the wood fall into his lap with every cut, as the 1951 MSU graduate explains his latest creation.
Welcome to MSU's Ag Expo, where faculty, farmers and even alumni take time to show off their craft and learn from others. The Expo began Tuesday and continues through Thursday.
"I made a hammer this morning," Cain said. "It may not look like much, but I made it. There's a certain level of achievement."
Cain is one of more than 20,000 people MSU officials expect to check out the 24th annual event. Visitors can dabble in anything from master gardening and manure technology demonstrations to viewing heavy agricultural machinery, said Laura Probyn, information officer for Agriculture and Natural Resources Communication.
Creating an ox yoke from scratch takes about two hours, Cain said. First, he starts off with a single piece of wood, heats it, and then slowly bends it into a U-shape.
As the wood cools off, it will hold the bend. An ox yoke is a type of harness oxen use to pull farm equipment, such as sleds, plows and wagons.
"We come here to provide a counterpoint to that stuff," he said, pointing to a piece of farm machinery bigger than his tent. "We teach people how to do things their great granddaddy's did."
As part of Tillers International, based in Scotts, Mich., Cain and other volunteers plan to demonstrate how to use the farm equipment for visitors at the Ag Expo. Two of their calves parade around the event, showing off yokes made by the group.
Guests to the event also got a peak at some high-tech machinery. Dave Hollenbeck works for Hud-Son Forest Equipment, based in Barneveld, N.Y., which sells a variety of portable sawmills.
Hollenbeck was busy sawing logs all day for anyone who passed by. Each log is carefully cut by the machine into precise blocks of wood.
"I like it, it's been a good turnout so far," he said.
Many people also turned out for the Michigan Dairy Expo and Dairy Days, which is being held across the street from the Ag Expo on Mount Hope Road.
This is the seventh year for the event, which hosts activities from showing cattle to sampling ice cream, said Megan Townsend, assistant to the event coordinator.
Mary Dillon of Posey Creek Farms in Jerome, Mich., attended the event along with her family and six cows, including show cows Jane, Princess and Infinity.
To select what cows will be in the show, Dillon said she chose those she felt fit into the picture of what a Holstein cow should look like.
"Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose," she said.
John Addindton wants to make sure Minnie, a 1,700-pound black and white cow, would be a winner. Minnie stood relatively still as Addindton, a 1956 MSU graduate, shaved clumps of hair off her udder and back legs.
"Thursday, we go in front of the judge and it's just one of those little things that supposedly makes them look good," he said.
Stephanie Korneffel can be reached at korneff2@msu.edu.
