Hannah Linder, Morrison, IL, has shown her dairy cattle at the Whiteside County Fair since she was five years old. She has entered Lois, the Holstein cow in the photo, for the last dozen years, beginning in 2006, when Lois was a yearling calf. Lois won First Junior Calf at her entry into competition. Hannah recalled she complained at the time, “I should have gotten Grand Champion with Lois!” Then-Superintendent Glenn Peterson overheard and presented Hannah “with an ‘unofficial’ Grand Champion ribbon, so I wouldn’t be disappointed.”
This was the reason Linder brought a very pregnant, half-ton cow to the Whiteside County Fair. Lois had been artificially inseminated by Mega Man. The Linders do not raise bulls.
“She’s gone to every County Fair, so we had to bring her,” stated Linder. “We showed her last week at a fair, and her bag was dry.” [No extra milk was being produced at that time for the new arrival.] She and her father, Kent, “thought she would calve [during the Whiteside County Fair], because her bag was so full.” On a nearby cot, Hannah slept through the night.
At 4:30 a.m., on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, Lois gave birth to a female calf. Lois “has had eight calves and produces lots of milk.” Father and daughter “milked her today [Thursday, August 16,] and might milk her some more tonight.” Little L cannot drink much yet.
The animal will be registered “at about one or two months, when we are sure she will survive,” with a name that begins with L, as does her mother’s. There is a list of L name choices stuck to the Dairy Barn stall post, so the public can offer their opinion. Linder will pick the new name on Saturday, August 18.
It follows that Hannah Linder “will raise and show the new calf. To be entered in Dairy shows, a calf must have been born before April 30” of the show year. This one, she said, “will be a summer yearling next year” when she returns to her birthplace. Linder, Lois, and Little L are shown about 36 hours after the birth.
This photo of Lois and her calf was taken Friday afternoon, August 17, 57 hours after delivery.
