Photos: Animals at the Nebraska State Fair

We got to the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island around 11:30 a.m. in the morning.  Entering in at a side gate, we were offered (and we accepted!) free tickets.  So we didn’t have to pay a red cent to get in.  It’s usually $10 per person; but when I enter quilts, the price is dropped to $5 – though this year, it would’ve been $5 for each of us regardless of whether I entered anything or not, since at age 60, we are considered ‘seniors’.

The food and drinks we would later buy was not free.  😲

The Swine Barn came first.  This friendly piggy wagged her tail like a dog when we got close.  She snorted, grunted, and squealed, begging us to pet her.  We did – and she closed her eyes and swayed back and forth in pleasure.  When we started walking away, she went through the same commotion all over again; so of course we had to turn back and pet her some more.  She made little grunting, snorting noises, sounding quite a lot like she was purring.

Next came the Cattle Barn.  In one side of this barn is the Milking Parlor... and right around the corner is – what else – the Ice Cream Parlor. 

We came upon a poor cow whose halter was almost over her eye.  She didn’t seem to be troubled about it, but Larry stepped closer, talking to her calmly.  He scritch-scratched her head and slid the halter around so it wasn’t so close to her eye.  She responded like a big cat, squinting and tilting her head down so he’d go on scratching her.

We walked along the aisles – and found a little kid (a human kid) on a reclining canvas chair, snoozing away under a bright fleece blanket in the middle of the Cattle Barn.

Every year, I want to go on the tram ride over the main thoroughfare, and every year we’re too busy doing other things – and then we’re too late.

In the Birthing Pavillion, there were three sows with large litters.  One had 20, but 2 were stillborn.  There are 18 piglets in that mob!

There were ducklings, chicks (one came flopping out of his egg while we watched!), kids (the goat variety), lambs...