BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — Emma Thomas and her steer, Sparky, are ready to take on the Bloomsburg Fair. She got Sparky over the winter and spent the past several months training him, something she says takes a lot of patience, especially getting Sparky comfortable in a halter.
"We use that, and that kind of could be uncomfortable at first, so that takes some training, and then we use what's called a show stick and the stick, it's just to help move their feet so we don't have to do it like manually like push on them or anything it's a little easier and then for scratching to comfort them so getting them used to that is rough too because they tend not to lie it all the time," said Emma Thomas, Catawissa.
Serin Heller from Cogan Station shows dairy goats, market beef, and swine. Heller got her first three goats three years ago, and she has even bred her own since then!
"I've had the larger brown one for two years, these two babies just this year, and I also bought these two this year."
"They are not easy to train at all, especially the Nigerian Dwarf goats. They're very stubborn," Heller says don't let their small size fool you.
Willow Nogle enjoys 4-H because it's fun and entertaining. She's showing a whole slew of animals at the Bloomsburg Fair!
"I showed dairy goats, my buck, and my British sheep, and then tomorrow I'll do all of my sheep," Nogle tells us, explaining that showing livestock is a hobby that many of those closest to her know little about.
"A whole bunch of my family comes to the fair, and they always say hi to me, and half of them don't even know that I show animals, so then I show a whole bunch, show them everyone, and they get super surprised and then some of them they help me with my animals, feeding them and then helping them getting ready for the fair."
You can check out the animals for yourself here at the fairgrounds through Saturday in Columbia County.