Iowa State Fair - critters

No State Fair would be complete without some animal shows. I liked the llamas best.

They get paraded around the arena and judged. I don't know what makes for an outstanding llama any more than I do a prizewinning carrot. I guess it's things like gait, posture, fluffiness, ear perkiness? Who knows?

I think they're all winners. Oh, and a shout out to Paul who says there are never photos of me on my blog.

Here is Debbie getting friendly with the llama. She made the mistake of telling the owner that the llama was "pretty" and was punished with a frown: "He's handsome." Whoops.

The pig people were way more relaxed, but then, so were the pigs.

This is the "big" ram. There's a big everything at the Iowa State Fair. Hard to tell from a photo, but this guy is chest high on my Dad. That is a big ram.

This little lamb seems to have joined the klan. I had no idea that black sheep suffered such serious persecution.

I loved this little cutie. I call him the Old English Sheep Sheep.

The baby goats were sweet too. There's something so cuddly about tiny animals.

These miniature cows aren't exactly cuddly, but they are cute. For perspective, the ones in the stall behind are full size.

It was nice to meet a fellow Aussie at the show. This Murray Grey had come a long way too. I felt a lot worse about the guy at the show who was selling sugar gliders as pets. This is illegal in Australia, where sugar gliders are protected. Licences to capture or sell them are usually granted only for research purposes. These poor little Australian creatures are probably descended from a sugar glider smuggled out of the country in some nasty person's underwear. What a horrible thought! Please don't keep these animals as pets.

Back to the cows. I liked the way they were all standing to attention like this. I half expected them to salute as I walked by.

Check out the tongue on this one. That is determination.

For the benefit of the Australians, this is an elk. It is the second largest member of the deer family behind the Moose. I am really glad I didn't hit this guy with the Cream Puff.

Here's my boy: Foghorn Leghorn and another shout out to a friend. You know who you are.