-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
Ruthven-Ayrshire third-graders attended the Clay County Fair's "Dairy Experience." Here, Charlotte Rollefson teaches them what dairy cows eat and how they are milked.

SPENCER — Part of the mission for the Clay County Fair is educational opportunities in agriculture.

New to this year’s fair was the “Dairy Experience,” where fairgoers could watch milking demonstrations, butter churning, ice cream making and view dairy cattle all nine days of the fair.

Sponsored by Farmer’s Business Network, it featured Jersey dairy cows from Rodney and LeRoy Eggink’s dairy farm near Sibley.

“The fair came to the dairy exhibitors at the fair and said they would like to have dairy cattle at the fair all nine days of the fair, and I’m semi-retired so I decided I would do it,” said Rodney Eggink.

Fair board officials then asked Eggink what they could do to bring an educational element to their working display. Eggink thought they could serve ice cream and butter and teach people where those products come from.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
Amanda Sadler spent copious hours helping prepare for and carry out their family's "Dairy Experience" at the Clay County Fair.

“The more I racked my brain about it, I decided to build a buck board and build an ice cream maker and serve homemade ice cream,” he said, adding that it took him about three months to craft an ice cream maker and the buck board (wooden wagon on which it rests and works).

Eggink purchased the ice cream maker’s churn part from some Amish people from Ohio. The motor is a 1936 John Deere hit-miss that belonged to his father, who was the dairy superintendent at the Clay County Fair for a number of years.

“As long as he owned it, it never ran,” said Eggink. “I knew it was there and I wanted it, so after he passed away I had it fixed and have put it all back together and we’re using it. It’s a special piece to me because Dad is part of it, and because I built the wagon it’s in from scratch with an Amish friend.”

The butter churn they used was an antique one that is hand-turned. To make the butter, they took the milk they got from the cows at the fair and put it in jars, let them sit to let the milk and cream separate, then used the cream to make the butter, which was churned in front of the fairgoers.

The butter was not served to fairgoers since the cream was not inspected by the USDA.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
AMANDA SADLER distributes ice cream cones to Ruthven-Ayrshire third-graders at the Sadler family's "Dairy Experience" at the Clay County Fair.

The Egginks served homemade ice cream but used milk and other dairy products that were purchased and had been inspected by the USDA. They used that homemade ice cream to serve in mini cones to those who stopped by the dairy experience. They went through about five gallons of homemade ice cream each day. Amanda Sadler, Eggink’s niece, said she served nearly 1,000 cones on a

single day during the first weekend of the fair.

“We had to purchase the products used to make the ice cream, but with the dairy cows here, they got the idea of where the milk and cream comes from,” said Eggink.

Eggink said fairgoers were intrigued by the ice cream when they were running the machine, and they asked many questions about what went into the ice cream.

“Some of these people have never seen or maybe been around dairy cows before,” said Eggink.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
RODNEY EGGINK, of Eggink Jerseys near Sibley, spent time during the Clay County Fair mixing ingredients to make homemade ice cream onsite, showing fairgoers one of the destinations of dairy milk.

“Kids especially are seeing where their food comes from. We’re trying to teach them how (these products) are produced and what they are used for.”

Eggink’s sister, Charlotte Rollefson, taught groups of third-grade students as they came through about what dairy cows eat, how they are milked and how dairy cows are cared for. She asked the children if they liked treats, and said dairy cows like them, too, showing them some grass hay and alfalfa hay.

She also showed them how dairy cows get fresh water to drink whenever they want.

Eggink said it was quite a time commitment to be there all nine days of the fair, along with the preparation it took to get everything ready to bring, set up and stay for the duration.

They milked twice daily at the fair, allowing fairgoers to see the equipment used to milk, along with the milk lines that led to the bulk tank. That room in the cattle barn had previously been boarded up, but some of the boards were replaced with plexiglass so people could see the bulk tank room, as well as Eggink and his family mixing ingredients in a mini cream can of sorts, to make the ice cream.

“It’s a worthwhile commitment for the dairy industry to give back to the community and to the public to show them where their food comes from,” said Eggink.