Mustang teens have spent months feeding, caring for and exercising their hogs, sheep, cattle and goats for this weekend when they show off their efforts at the Canadian County fair.
The 57th annual Canadian County Fair got rolling earlier this week in El Reno, but the main exhibitions start today with the judging of arts and crafts and livestock. The fair continues tonight with the Farmhand Olympics, an open rodeo on Friday and pet show, and children's tractor pull and trap shooting on Saturday.
Mustang's Sunshine Home and Community Educators club will enter their Cowboy Cookie Corral in the best cookies and jar contest — possibly the most coveted award at the fair for crafters. The best cookies and jar are given to the Canadian County Citizen of the Year recipient, who will be honored at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The summer heat and drought shriveled gardens, and Kay Turner said there wasn't a large bounty for much canning this season. The group's busy bakers spent the week preparing their prized pies and cookies for the fair.
Sewers have stitched together clothes, embroidery and blankets for the fair. Fern McClary spent more than a year stitching together a full-sized quilt, with backing as elaborate as the main part of the blanket.
“If she doesn't win a prize for that, I will be so shocked,” Martha Canary said.
Barbara Crookshank is still working on a quilt probably for the following year's fair, but she said she plans to enter several smaller pieces. The HCE members support the fair because it helps people to remember many country traditions — sewing, quilting and crafting, as well as baking and preserving foods, she said.
“It's a way to preserve the food we grow, the way to raise our children, a way of doing things,” she said.

Life lessons
Mustang FFA President Tracy Norton said she's learned some of her most important lessons from her sheep.
This fair, Norton will show three sheep — Slinky, Bullseye and Tony. Of the trio, she said Slinky and Bullseye have the best chance of achieving champion or reserve champion because both are lean and muscular.
Norton said she's excited for her third fall fair and this new season. That wasn't true her freshman year, when her sheep got way from Norton in the show ring at the Oklahoma State Fair. She fell during one show that season.
Even though it was tough and she got frustrated, Norton said she learned how sensitive her sheep were. They pick up on subtle cues — if Norton showed them she was nervous, the sheep channeled her anxiety. When she became frustrated and angry, the sheep wouldn't walk or set up in the ring.
“The big thing when you go into the show ring with them is that you are confident, and you are not nervous,” she said. “You know you are going to do good so they are good.”
Her mother Meredith Norton said she's seen Tracy grow through FFA. Before showing sheep, she said her daughter was soft spoken and shy; she wouldn't have predicted Tracy would seek out a leadership role.
“She has come out of her shell,” her mother said.
Tracy Norton cares for her sheep morning and night. She feeds them and walks them, working with each animal so they are ready for the show ring. This dry, hot summer has been hard on livestock, but Norton's trio spend most of their time in an air-conditioned barn.
Norton said she's learned a lot about responsibility, and in her home, taking care of the animals comes first. The work has its own rewards — she said the sheep are more than just livestock to her. Each has his own unique character.
“Slinky, he's an absolute doll,” she said. “He'll let you love on him. He's a sweetheart. Bullseye, he's the stubborn one. He's crazy. Tony is just Tony. He has his own way of doing things. When we walk him outside in our field, he just jumps up and down.”
Norton took grand reserve breed at county last year, and her sheep won second in its class.
“We were pretty happy about that, and we made sale,” she said.
She will keep her sheep through Oklahoma Youth Expo in the spring, and Norton said parting is hard, even though they are livestock. She said she doesn't expect this year to be any easier.
“I got way attached to my sheep and I bawled and bawled,” she said.
Norton's experience could lead her to a future career path. She said she plans to continue showing sheep through high school and working with livestock in college. Norton said she wants to become a veterinarian specializing in livestock show animals.

Little help from friends
If sophomore Macey Hames isn't at home or school, she's likely at the MHS agriculture barn washing and walking her hog Brutus.
Macey signed up for agriculture class last year because she said it sounded fun and interesting, and she found a community of friends. When she decided to raise and show her first pig last spring, a group of older students reached out to her, teaching her how to keep her animal healthy and to prepare for the show.
“You can't half do it,” she said. “You can't just like come up here and not walk him. You can't come up here and barely feed him. You have to always feed him, always water him, walk him every night.”
Macey fell in love with her first pig, a Duroc she named Poseidon. She spent evenings laying in his pen brushing him. She trained him using marshmallows and jellybeans — but not the black ones. Macey said most of the hogs seem not to like licorice-flavored jellybeans.
She won a few ribbons, but more importantly, Macey said she learned lessons in the show ring.
This season she raised a Yorkshire, Brutus, from a piglet. She plans on showing Brutus at the county fair and the Oklahoma City and Tulsa state fairs. The Tulsa show is a terminal show for hogs.
Macey said she's trying to not get as attached to Brutus, but he has his own character.
“He's very ornery,” she said. “When I walk him and hit him to go one way, he wants to go the other. If he was a person, he would be very happy, that's what I think.”
Macey said she wants to study forensic science and become an investigator. She said she's also interested in the science side of agriculture.
“It gives me something to do it keeps me out of trouble — very busy,” she said.