Hold a chick, pet a calf, and have fun with many of our other farm animals!

August 2013-

This week’s Freebie Friday is: “Hold a chick, pet a calf, and have fun with many of our other farm animals!”

Topsfield Fair patrons come from all over the state, region, country, and even the world. Many of you come from inner-city areas and have never seen an actual farm. Even more of you have never interacted with (or seen, for the matter) a real, live chicken or cow. The Essex Agricultural Society, who owns and runs the Topsfield Fair, was formed with one main goal: “to encourage, promote and preserve Essex County agricultural activities and to educate the general public regarding their importance in an atmosphere of fun and excitement through the medium of the Topsfield Fair.” With that in mind, we encourage everyone, not just those from the city, to spend your day at the Fair soaking up the unique opportunities we hope to provide you.
Head into the Poultry Barn, for example, and you can spend a solid hour interacting with the poultry alone. Walk the rows of coops with a cup of feed (they were only 25 cents last year!) and feed the chickens and roosters. Watch as a new life is created and a baby chick pecks its way out of its shell. Ask our volunteers and they often will let you hold one of the chicks – they are only days old!

Many of the other agricultural areas will also allow for close interaction with the farm animals. The Farmyard area often hosts a variety of animals including horses, alpacas, and cows and the Show Tent hosts sheep and goats on the weekends. When you go to the Cattle Barn, you may be able to Pet a Calf and earn a special participant ribbon!
We’d like to remind everyone that you should take some precautionary measures when you are interacting with the animals. Also, make sure to wash your hands after touching the animals, especially before you eat! There are hand sanitizer dispensers, bathrooms, and special hand-washing stations throughout the Fairgrounds.