Page 17 - Flathead Beacon // 8.17.16

“SHE UNDERSTANDS THE PROCESS AND IT’S PART OF THE PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURE, BUT IT’S STILL HARD, BECAUSE SHE SPENDS HOURS A DAY WITH THEM.”
- INGA LAKE
the owners there; Bailey is on the Boat- man show team, and the Boatmans came to the Flathead to put on a showmanship clinic for local 4H and Future Farmers of America kids.
If they’re going to support her dreams in and out of state, they’re going to bring back the knowledge she’s earned there and share it here, Inga said.
Bailey is involved through the whole process with her lambs, from stroking their 12-pound baby bodies gently right after birth to the fair and to the meat-pro- cessing plant for their nal journey.
Taking that last trip with the lambs after they’re purchased at auction was important for their daughter, Inga said, because it instills in her the true nature of this cyclical life.
“She understands the process and it’s part of the promotion of agricul- ture,” Inga said, watching her daughter straighten the legs on her standing lamb. “But it’s still hard, because she spends hours a day with them.”
Her winning market lambs are
Bailey Lake holds one her lambs at her family’s home in West Valley. JUSTIN FRANZ | FLATHEAD BEACON.
CAN’T-MISS EVENTS AT THE NORTHWEST MONTANA FAIR, AUG. 17-21
FOR FULL EVENT LISTINGS, VISIT WWW.NWMTFAIR.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 17
9 a.m.: Exhibit buildings open
3 p.m.: Carnival opens
7:30 p.m.: Trace Adkins in concert
THURSDAY, AUG. 18
McDonalds Day/Senior Citizens’ Day: $10 discount on rodeo tickets for seniors
11 a.m.: Crafty cookie contest, 6-9 year olds Noon: Carnival opens
2 p.m. Rooster-crowing contest
7 p.m.: Justin Mutton Bustin’
7:30 p.m.: RAM PRCA Rodeo, Grandstand Relay Races
FRIDAY, AUG. 19
10 a.m.: Fair parade on Main Street 12 p.m.: King Arthur baking contest 1 p.m.: Draft horse demonstration 7 p.m.: Justin Mutton Bustin’
7:30 p.m.: RAM PRCA Rodeo
SATURDAY, AUG. 20
8 a.m.: Market livestock sale
12 p.m.: Great American pie contest
4 p.m.: Chicks N Chaps Cowboy Clinic 7 p.m. Justin Mutton Bustin’
7:30 p.m.: RAM PRCA Rodeo
SUNDAY, AUG. 21
9 a.m.: Llama/alpaca obstacle/costumes 12 p.m.: Carnival open
6 p.m. Giant demolition derby
auctioned and typically sell for prices up to $7 a pound. The Northwest Montana Fair usually brings out the best prices.
“Our community has the most amaz- ing sale and the most generous, support- ive buyers,” Inga said.
Any money Bailey earns either goes back into her burgeoning sheep collec- tive or into a savings account for college.
As a teenager, Bailey is tall and quiet, quick to smile, and loving but rm with her eecy charges. In the ring, the
handlers lead the lambs and hold the lambs’ heads still to strike the show pose. Dre, who ranks as her favorite lamb at the moment, begrudgingly struck said pose last week, though he snorted his dis- pleasure into Bailey’s chest. She merely
laughed, then readjusted.
“It is an animal,” she said, getting Dre
in line. “And no matter how much you work with them, you never really know what they’re going to do.”
mpriddy@ atheadbeacon.com
AUGUST 17, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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