One never really knows what to expect showing livestock at the NC State Fair. Who will win? How will it all shake out? Will my animal behave? This year, the year of endless uncertainty, with little surprise, brought further uncertainty to the barns at the fair. For a long while we weren’t even sure that the shows would happen.

But, with grit, hard work and passion that livestock folks are so often known for, shows took place. They weren’t cancelled. So much was, but not this. Oh, how our hearts rejoiced. It wouldn’t be “normal” but that didn’t matter. They would happen.

It wasn’t always ideal, but silver linings were evident. I suppose we’ve all gotten really good at looking for those silver linings in dark clouds during these unprecedented times.

While masks were required, we searched the half-hidden faces of those in the barns to find friends! Masks could not even hide the smiles.

There was no sale for our pigs, but we didn’t have to fight for parking or wait in traffic. We Lintons were actually able to camp for the first time at the fairgrounds! We had to muck our own stalls this year, but we were spoiled by being given the entirety of the Expo building, complete with turf grass and a massive ring for the pigs and the Jim Graham building for the sheep. No tents. No crowds.

The point—the show happened, and that’s all that matters. To all those responsible for making sure the show went on, thank you. There is nothing but gratitude in our hearts.

Now, for stories from the ring…

The pig show was first on our docket. The boys had trained their pigs so, so well this year, and despite a difficult circuit season, still had the best attitudes. They both worked hard and both made the cut for showmanship, quite the accomplishment for some really deep classes at the state level.

I was most proud, though, of the boys’ attitude and good sportsmanship. Perhaps the thing that fills my heart most with pride, is how they support one another in and out of the ring. If you look at many of these photos, you’ll see one brother or the other in the background, carrying water, giving words of encouragement, or just following in silent support. They came by it honestly, though. They are just copying what my parents have done for over a decade.

Preparing (mentally and physically) for show time.

I love Isaac in the background on this one.

One of my favorite photos from the whole fair—brothers, showman, pigs, and farmer strong in the back.

Water break after doing so well in the ring.

Tuckered out. They both fell asleep in the truck on the way home.

After showing, we loaded up and headed home. It was time to switch gears from pigs to sheep. I’ll just go ahead and say that sheep were much more eventful than the pigs were, and all of it happened before we even got to the show.

We started several days before the show, washing and fitting the sheep. We had 17 to get through, you see. The sheep seemed to think that this was far from a spa day, but I do believe we humans got the short end of the stick. First of all, the sheep had gotten into sandspurs. Wool plus sandspurs makes for very sharp sheep. Sandspur by pointy sandspur, we plucked and cut them from the sheep. Along the row of sheep, rang many an “ouch” yelled by any one of us as we got stuck by the spurs. The sheep were blissfully unaware of the awful blights with their thick wool protecting them. The sandspurs also meant that the sheep had built in defense from us catching them. We learned quickly that gloves were vital.

If sandspurs weren’t bad enough, we had another painful encounter in the form of fire ants.

I was washing Hollywood, and felt my hands begin to sting. I looked down to see both her and me covered in crawling, angry ants. I grabbed Hollywood and ran. I yelled for the boys to grab the water hose and hose us both down. Once again, wool saved the sheep from much pain. She was mostly perturbed that she was getting hosed down more. We were able to keep the ants off her face, and it seemed that she only got bit a couple of times on her neck. I didn’t fare as well. Needless to say, plucking spurs or ants out of wool left us a little worse for the wear.

Dad sprayed the ants with poison (they were in the post that you see Hollywood and I all over. The next day, they were still alive, so got a second dose, but not before trying to escape in a ball of moving ants. Terrifying!

She lives up to her name, Hollywood. What a beauty.

Mom looking at the drone footage Gideon took. Can’t wait for you guys to see it!

Working livestock isn’t always glamorous—for us or the sheep. To be clear, this was a Monday, and in full Monday fashion, Willow embodied the full mood—a big fat NOPE.

If you thought that sandspurs, fire ants, and uncooperative sheep were enough drama pre-show, think again.

We coated many of our sheep this year to keep their wool extra nice. The results were splendid! It was also quite fun to take their coats off and reveal their fleeces. One of my favorite reveals was my girl Collette. Her wool was glorious. I decided to wash her to make her shine all that much more. However, as I washed her, I began to panic. I called the boys over and asked, “is this sheep green?” To be sure this sheep wasn’t green. To my horror, though, Collette was indeed green. The more I washed her, the more fluorescent green she became. The coat had bled dye into her fleece, and one of wool’s positive qualities is that it holds dye well. All the other white sheep had orange coats. Collette was the only white sheep in a green coat, and she was one of my favorites.

We tried washing her with vinegar, baking soda, and 3 soaps. By then, it was getting dark, so I let her back in the pasture and prayed she’d be white in the morning. She was most notably not white. As a last resort, we decided to try Rit dye remover. We tested it on our skin first, and then let her soak for a while. We prayed some more. As much as I was hoping the green would just rinse completely away, it didn’t quite work that way. The wool held fast to the color. Don’t get me wrong, the dye remover helped. It helped enough that you’d think your eyes were playing tricks on you. I told the boys if anyone asked, just play it off and say its their eyes. Joking…well only sorta.

I wish I could say that was the last of the drama, but it wasn’t. As we were loading all the sheep up, Pearl snagged her ear tag and ripped her ear in two. You know those shirts that say “sorry for what I said when we were working cattle”, well I needed one that said sheep for that situation. I was sick to my stomach over it. Making matters worse was the blood splatters all over me and her (clean wool and all). I barked orders to Gideon (later he said, “I knew you meant business Risa, so I got a second gear.” Gid is notorious for being in teenage lala land.) to go get me peroxide, blood stop powder and a towel. We got her doctored up and bandaged, complete with zebra print.

I’m happy to report that there were no more incidents for the remainder of the sheep portion.

The next day was a frenzy of showing. Gideon showed Collette (yes the green sheep) for showmanship and won Grand Junior Showman! Isaac showed his precious Astrid (even though she was real short) and won 4th in his first year as a senior!

After showmanship, we were in and out of the ring with our girls. Many won first and second. Several also won born and bred in their class. All in all, we ended up with 3 girls in champion drive and 6 in the Got to Be NC champion drive. While our sheep weren’t the judge’s preference that day, we were extremely proud of the representation we had in champion drive, so much so, I had to step in to show a sheep to have enough hands. That made me one happy girl! Often times, the judge commented that they had the best fleeces, which at a wool show is high praise.

By mid-afternoon, the NC State Fair had finished for us. We packed the girls up and headed home. Mom and I unloaded them one by one while the boys and Dad went back to Raleigh for the camper. Mom and I re-coated everyone, taking care to avoid anymore green mishaps, and took some photos with our favorites. Everyone was happy to be back in the pastures, and we were happy to be home. It was an awful dramatic sheep week, but we did it, had fun, and our girls shined.

Just like that 2020 is in the books, and despite the incidents, the pandemic, and uncertainties, all I can see are silver linings everywhere I look.

A NC State Fair Filled with Silver Linings

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