Think of this week?s Keystone International Livestock Exposition as a mini-Farm Show, except this expo focuses solely on the animals.
It?s the largest livestock show on the East Coast, with 1,300 beef cattle, 500 horses, 1,200 sheep and 500 swine from 31 states.
For many kids, the animals are the best part, so the 700 elementary school-age children who attended the event at the Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg on Thursday had a chance to get up close and personal with their favorite four-legged friends.
Lily Puher, a second-grader from Bellaire Elementary School in Carlisle, said she loved petting the bunnies, seeing the chicks and watching the pigs being fed.
?I learned that farmers like to take care of their animals,? she said.
Unlike the Farm Show, which is limited to Pennsylvania farmers, the Keystone exhibition attracts entries from all over the United States, half of the exhibitors under 21. They come from as far away as Wyoming and North Dakota.
Gerald Allebach of Spring Mills, Centre County, was showing a six-horse hitch of Percheron draft horses, four of them from his own Windemere Farms and two from a ranch in Wyoming. He said this show lets him team up with a breeder from another state to the benefit of both.
He has been attending the Farm Show since he was 7, but will miss it for the first time this year since his world champion Percherons will be parading in the Rose Bowl at that time.
Allebach said he enjoys the less crowded Keystone exhibition because it lets him chat more with visitors and other competitors.
That?s also how Jeff Bomgarder of North Annville Township feels. The Farm Show is mostly about educating people who know little about farming, he said. At The Keystone event, he has time to talk with farmers from around the country about breeding and genetics. He breeds his shorthorn beef cattle for temperament as well as meat.
?This show is way more laid back than the Farm Show,? he said. ?I like to come up and show cattle against friends and see where we are in today?s market, what to improve, what genetics are working.?
Show organizers said they are trying to attract more of the public to the show with some crowd-pleasing events. An example is this year?s ?BBQ, Blues and Brews? event Friday and Saturday.
Sixty teams will be competing to create the best barbecue in the categories of chicken, ribs, briskit and pulled pork while musicians play the blues and six Pennsylvania breweries offer beer.
Saturday will be ?The Best Legs in Town? contest, a people?s choice award for barbecue. Visitors can sample all 60 entries, if their stomachs can handle it, and vote for their favorites. The winner gets the leg lamp featured in ?A Christmas Story.?
?Our barbecue teams love it. They all compete for the leg lamp,? said Morgan Firestone, an assistant with the Department of Agriculture in charge of the barbecue contest.
About 100 professional judges will also pick the winners in each category, who can advance to the national championship in Kansas City.
Another crowd pleaser is Saturday?s ?Agri-Kids Olympics,? where children can compete in hay-bail tossing and pedal tractor pulls.
Admission and parking are free for the event.
?For the past couple of years, we?ve been trying to get the public out,? said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Nicole Bucher. ?This has some of what the Farm Show offers, but in October. It?s a great opportunity to see the connection between the farm gate and the dinner plate.? ?
Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/10/keystone_international_livesto.html
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