"The Cow Whisperer"....the Reigning Hopkins County Dairy Festial Queen was seen whispering "sweet nothings" into the
ear of this Jersey Cow, minutes before Saturday's annual Milking Contest. No one was certain what she told her
but it must have worked, as Katelyn managed to get some milk in her bucket, when she demonstrated how a
cow was properly hand milked.

 

Annual Milking Contest Draws Crowd
of Spectators and "Spirited" Competition

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Queen Katelyn takes the microphone and attempts to tell the crowd just what she will
be doing, as she demonstrates how to milk a cow.

 

 

In what has become a tradition, after some 30 years of the annual Hopkins County Dairy Festival Milking Contest, Saturday's contest drew a large throng of spectators, who braved the the heat and humidity, beneath the oak trees outside of the Hopkins County Regional Civic Center, to see who would become this year's champion milkers. With thirteen contestants, organizers felt that it would be best and more fair for the balloon pilots to milk in their contest, first, allowing each of the candidates to have a cow that would have already had her milk stimulated.

 

This year's Milking Contest Committee included: Daiyman Pater Van Rijn (the clown), Dairyman
Tom Miller, and Carolyn McKinney, with the Southwest Dairy Museum, who recruited her husband's help.

 

A Queenly demonstration, as Katelyn makes her official milking!

 

 

Six balloon pilot teams stepped to the front of the line and were making their own bets as to who was the best milkers. "It's a 'piece of cake' for an ol' pro like me!" bragged defending milking champion, Lance Terry, who won last year's contest.

 

  

 

"We'll just see about that!" jeered another pilot. "Kings are made to be dethroned!"

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

However, when the dust settled and the milk that was captured in the buckets was weighed on electronic scales, it was Lance Terry and his partner, Dale Walker, who walked away with the championship, once again, as they continued to call themselves "The Defenders!"

 

In the winner's circle were, left to right, "Joe and Jim," Billy and Joni Broke, and the winners,
Lance Terry and Dale Walker.

 

Second place was the "Joe and Jim" Team, comprised of Joe Paddie and Jim Roybal, and third prize went to the "Got Milk" Team, comprised of Billy and Joni Broker.

 

 

 

Milk Maids.....Dairy Festival Queen Candidates pose with Queen Katelyn as they get ready to try their
hand at milking a cow.

From outright fear to a resolve to do the best that they could, Dairy Festival Queen contestants came to the appointed time, to demonstrate that they knew what it was to hand milk a cow, the old-fashioned way, on Saturday afternoon, with loads of family members and friends, in the audience, it became a project to compete and not embarass one's self, before the crowd. "My boyfriend has grown-up on a dairy farm and he actually claimed that he didn't know how to milk a cow," expressed one candidate. "And, then he isn't even here to lend any kind of support. He's playing baseball!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I'm scared that some of these udders aren't going to work!" lamented another candidate, as she prepared to milk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, Saturday's contest got underway with candidates milking seven cows in two "heats" or rounds, to see who could obtain the most milk. Some experienced some difficulty with a cow that kicked over the bucket and one candidate acted "tempted" to put her bucket under the stream, when one of the cows lifted her tail to pee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the milking was finished, it was Candidate Emily Mason, who captured this year's 2010 Milking Contest Trophy, for first prize. Second prize went to Contestant Jalie Eppars, and third prize was captured by Contestant Alissa Welch.

 

Saturday afternoon's Milking Contest winners included, left to right, First Place, Emily Mason,
Second Place, Jalie Eppars, and Third place, Alissa Welch.

All those parents, who had been offering so much "free" advice from the sidelines, found out just what it was like for the "shoe to be on the other foot" as they took their daughter's bucket and went to the same cow that looked so easy to milk, looking on from the outside. However, when they had to extract milk from her "four spikets" it was much, much harder than it looked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parents found "the going tough" as they began looking for something in the bucket. "I see something 'foreign' in there, but I'm not going to say anything because maybe it weighs a lot!" expressed one reluctant mother, who had dificulty milking.

"Our cow just wouldn't cooperate!" bemoaned another candidate's dad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"However, it's quite humbling when you can't hardly get any milk from a cow and then you look around and she's streaming milk from her udder, on her own!" expressed another candidate's father. "That makes you feel rather stupid and humble!"

When the weighing was completed, it was

 

Winners of the Parent's Milking Contest included, left to right, Carl and Bridget Nix, First Place,
Jeff and Jackie Mason, Second Place, and Bobby and Anita Gaddis, Third Place.

 

Dairy Festival Candidates were "all smiles" after completing the Milkng Contest, on Saturday afternoon,
and were ready to go eat some ice cream, after a hot afternoon of labor.

 

Roy King, of City National Bank, served as the official judge for
Saturday's Milking Contest.

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