The All-American Dairy Show is coming. On the agriculture calendar, hands down this has to be my favorite major agriculture event of the year. Starting later this week, some of the nation’s best cows will be rolling into the Farm Show complex for their first stop to compete at the first of three national dairy shows.

My earliest memory of time at the All-American was when my family had to take my uncle down to compete in the Pennsylvania State Junior Dairy Show. I was only four at the time and I remember how awestruck I was at the size of the Farm Show Complex and the show. Then a few years later when I was 10, I earned my first qualifier with my Guernsey, Midget Lake Able Daisy. With the wisdom of my 10 years, I believed I had “made it to the big time.”

As the years advanced, I was blessed to have a class winner and my brother the junior champion of the Guernsey show in the early 1990s, which was my parents benchmark for us to cross over into the All-American Dairy Show – a pinnacle in our 4-H and FFA career.

However, it is not the cows that only make this a favorite for me, it’s the people. The breeders, the youth and the friendships I have been blessed with from those years of having my cows in the Northwest Hall of the complex. When I am not busy covering an event for Lancaster Farming, my family and I can be found wondering through the barns, visiting with many of our farming friends and seeing what cows they have brought to the show.

If you have not thought about attending this year, I would encourage you to think about taking a day off the farm to make the trip to Harrisburg. Events to note are: youth supreme champion on Monday; youth showmanship contest on Sunday; open supreme champion on Thursday; and three days of national breed shows starting Tuesday.

If you can’t make it to the All-American, stay tuned to Lancaster Farming for full coverage of the show!

- from Ag Scene Guest Blogger, Charlene Shupp Espenshade