We just finished up with the Sheboygan County Fair a few weeks ago, and it got me thinking about how important the fair is. For lots of people, visiting the fair may be the only time they get out and actually see animals involved in agriculture. Pigs, sheep, cows and chickens – all of those things can seem far away when you only encounter food at the grocery store. Seeing the animals at the fair connects people to their food in a way that can really only be done in person.
At Majestic Crossing, we support the youth who participate in 4-H and show their animals. This year, we bought two hogs at the fair, that we will butcher and share with our employees. We also made a donation in support of dairy youth who auction off their champion animals, including the daughter of one of our employees who raised a champion dairy cow. Kids keep 60 percent of their proceeds to use towards their future education. The other 40 percent goes into the County Dairy Youth committees that help keep kids involved in raising pigs, chickens and dairy cows.
Many of us farmers, including my brother and me, came through the dairy youth process, so we know it’s important to keep giving back to keep young people involved in producing food through agriculture.
