Meet Ella!
She is 18 years old, from Marengo, and one of the McHenry County Fair’s dairy cattle exhibitor. Ella is easy to spot at a dairy cattle exhibition. She’s the blonde with a cow and smile that goes ear to ear. The joy she gets from showing her cattle is obvious and makes it no surprise that her favorite aspect of competing is “the feeling during the show knowing I have worked hard with my animals all summer to get up this point.”
However, Ella’s joy and comfort while competing makes it surprising she only started competing two years ago. While many of Ella’s peers have been showing livestock since childhood, which is often a tradition passed on for multiple generations, Ella is the first in her family to be involved in agriculture and livestock.
Thanks to the encouragement of her agriculture teacher, Mrs. Obert, and her grandmother, Ella joined 4-H, taught herself how to show, started working with dairy cows, and entered her first dairy cattle exhibition – and she doesn’t just show at the McHenry County Fair. She competes at Harvard Milk Days, FFA shows, the World Dairy Expo, and showmanship competitions where she even gets to test her abilities to handle other types of livestock.
Learning to handle and care for cattle day-in and day-out is no easy task, but Ella thinks the most important part of competing is teaching you how to care for another being that isn’t yourself. In fact, she wishes more people knew how tired her and her fellow exhibitionists are after a long day of caring for their animals, but it’s all worth it.
Livestock exhibitions may be a new venture for Ella, but she has jumped in with both feet and is fully committed. In fact, she’s surrounded by a new group of friends that help her learn and grow.
The McHenry County Fair is excited to see Ella and her dairy cows for years to come.
Do YOU want to be our next exhibition or fair feature? MESSAGE US on social media and we will share your McHenry County Fair story.