Hats, Hardware and Humor
In addition to the nuts and bolts of transporting, feeding and preparing the cattle, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, various poultry and fowl for judging, there is also a great deal of product marketing going on. The exhibit halls are full of both desirable and necessary items for sale.
Here are a few photos of typical booths:
Hats, all styles, can be steamed, blocked and sent to your home.
Whether you want a cowboy hat for form or function, it can be found in the exhibition hall.
Horsey hardware for managing animals in the Rodeo arena or Show ring
Metal chutes can be purchased with or without tracking capability.
It is now possible to have an animal herded into the chute and have the animal's age, weight, breeding history, medical and inoculation records appear on a screen attached to the chute. From a scan of an embedded microchip, the information is immediately accessible.
Of course, not all the wares for sale are serious in nature. There are tooled-leather toilet seats, lamps with cartoons or waterfalls on them and bar-and-billiard-room plaques as well as wagon-wheel and antler furniture.
Slogans for sale!
There were also many examples of fine art and great skill exhibited in the various halls. I fell in love with a $15,0000 sculpture that warmed my heart every time I passed by. Sadly that kind of art is not in my budget.
The stock show provides me with an annual opportunity to get in touch with my roots. It's been 50 years since I have lived on a working farm/ranch, but it will always be a part of my history. Though I reminisce and give these memories a rosy color from a distance, I will never forget just how much hard work it takes to make a profit raising cattle.
Posted by: Frances | January 12, 2007 at 02:15 PM