Bleating Hearts

WAPAKONETA - Auglaize County Fair officials' top priority is to keep all animals on site safe and healthy, not only for the sake of the creatures but for the people who will ultimately consume their meat or products.

"We send safe products to the market," veterinarian Michelle "Mitch" Michalak said, pointing out officials repeatedly impress upon fair exhibitors the gravity of properly raising and releasing to the public healthy farm animals.

Good husbandry and animal care, though, are a key focus of groups such as FFA and 4-H, to which many of the animal exhibitors belong.

Michalak, the co-owner of the Maria Stein Animal Clinic, has worked with the Auglaize County Fair for more than 10 years. She strives to meet this important goal through a combination of education and daily on-site monitoring of the fair animals and their holding areas.

Prior to the fair, a letter is sent to all exhibitors and their parents outlining the conditions, among them exposure to other animals, they will see when they come to the fair.

They're asked to complete all vaccinations at least 30 days ahead of the fair. Moreover, they're strongly encouraged to routinely take the animal they plan to show at the fair to their veterinarian to ensure the animal is healthy.

Fair board member Toby Lee said all animal holding areas are thoroughly decontaminated before the fair begins.

"The biggest thing we do is we sanitize all the barns prior to the animals' coming," Lee said. "We spray everything down. All the pens, all the floors, the walls - everything is sprayed with sanitizer."

The fair's nice facilities, which are taken care of by both fair officials and exhibitors, allow for more hygienic conditions, he noted.

"Almost every animal is on concrete and that helps a lot with us being able to clean it before they come," he said.

On the Saturday before the fair, four to five veterinarians review fair expectations and standards with exhibitors and their parents, Michalak said. They also talk about any diseases that may be active in the area.

The veterinarians then inspect every animal on the premises for sickness and injury.

Once the fair begins, Michalak walks daily, sometimes as many as four times, through every barn checking on the animals and their environs depending on the type of animal, their condition and other circumstances.

At least three different sets of eyes inspect each animal - those of the veterinarian, a junior fair board member and a senior fair board member. The exhibitors and their parents, too, continually monitor the animals.

If an animal appears to be not feeling well or stressed out, Michalak will decide whether to treat the animal on site or have it removed from the fairgrounds.

"We really watch for coughs and fevers," Lee said. "The biggest problem is the heat, and we've been very fortunate this year that it's not 100 degrees because that really affects the swine probably more than any of them."

Heeding the research of Andy Bowman, assistant professor in Ohio State University's Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, fair officials for the first time this year opted to send hogs to the market two days earlier than normal as a proactive measure to prevent swine flu.

As for the health of fair-goers, Michalak advises them to wash their hands fastidiously.

The main key to staying healthy while attending county fairs is common sense, Michalak said, pointing out it may not be wise for people to eat something after coming out of a hog barn unless they wash their hands thoroughly.

Since bacteria-containing manure can be found at the fair, the wheels of strollers, carts and wheelchairs should be wiped clean before the objects are returned to vehicles, she said.