MORRIS _ Sonja Galley is spending her vacation with family, which means rising before dawn and milking late at night as her family continues a tradition of showing Holsteins at the Otsego County Fair.
The Galley family's Silver Spoon Dairy Farm of Garrattsville boarded 13 cows at the fair in Morris this week, and they and their herd were collecting multiple blue and red ribbons in shows.
The most-satisfying, said Galley and her mother, Cathy, was winning premier breeder and premier exhibitor titles Thursday.
With 187 dairy and 40 beef registered at the fair this year, dairy entries were down 29 cows from last year, fair organizers said.
Fair manager Judy Harris said it was surprising the drop wasn't greater, considering the financial crisis in the industry, but young people still seem interested in dairy farming.
Dairy shows will continue at the fair starting at 9:30 a.m. today with Ayshire, milking shorthorn and jersey breeds on the schedule. Sheep, goats, horses and other farm animals are on the grounds for viewing, and shows are set through Sunday, the last day of the fair.
On Thursday, handlers walked cows of various breeds in to and out of show rings. Cows were led to a washing stand, to milking areas and stalls. In shady barns, cows stood eating hay or were lying on straw beds, their brown or black-and-white coats gleaming.
Sonja Galley, while tending cows in a milking stall, said that after graduating from Morris Central School in 2004, she studied dairy science at Virginia Tech University.
She works as a herdsman on a Maine farm and said she hopes the experience will help her on the family farm.
After exhibiting at the Otsego County Fair during the past 15 years, returning this week seemed a natural way to connect with the local farming community and her family, she said.
Her cow, Julene, was among four females that won a top ranking Thursday in a breeder's herd class, she said.
Recognition of the farm's Holstein breeding is especially rewarding for the family, which has been in the dairy business for about 30 years, Cathy Galley said.
She smiled readily when talking about her farm and her ``hopes the kids have an interest in it.''
Her son, Sean, 18, also was showing and tending cows at the fair this week.
Cathy Galley also is a leader with the Garrattsville Greywolves 4-H Club, which includes Peter Gartung, 14, of Mount Vision.
Gartung, who said he likes working with animals, won championship levels in open and 4-H showmanship with Miriam, his year-old Angus heifer.
He helped the Galleys with their cows, he said, and appreciates that each cow has a personality.
``They're just fun to work with,'' he said.
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