Check it out

What: California State Fair

When: Noon-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday; fireworks presented nightly at 10 p.m.

Where: Cal Expo, Exposition Boulevard, Sacramento

Tickets: $12 general, $10 seniors, $8 youths 5-12, free for kids 4 and under; parking is $10

Since its inception, the California State Fair has provided an opportunity for city dwellers to experience, albeit briefly, what life on a farm is like.

A fascinating peek at one aspect of farm life — the animals — is offered at the UC Davis Livestock Nursery, where fairgoers can watch cows, pigs, and goats as they give birth and raise their offspring.

Visitors also can milk cows or goats and even make butter at the nursery.

Focus never strays from the university that sponsors the nursery, however, as free posters from the prestigious UCD School of Veterinary Medicine are readily available.

Most of the nursery’s stations are attended by a veterinary student, each of whom is glad to answer any questions not already covered by informational videos and posters that adorn the tent’s walls.

When she wasn’t surrounded by children who peppered her with questions about the baby goats she tended to, Stacy Potter, a veterinary assistant and junior at UCD, took time to chat with a reporter last week.

This marked Potter’s third year working at the livestock nursery; she first read about it in UCD’s veterinary journal during her freshman year.

“I think that this nursery is essential to the State Fair,” she said. “Without these exhibits, the fair would be doing a disservice to the agricultural education of the state.”

The livestock nursery hasn’t been without controversy, however. Across the nation, fewer and fewer are seeing live birthing exhibits at state fairs, as it has become increasingly denounced as inhumane to animals.

California is one of only about a dozen major state fairs where live births still occur, fair officials say.

“I thought UCD’s exhibit was impressive. The posters and videos were very informative and the animals seemed to be pretty comfortable, too,” said Kevin Sweeney, a 19-year-old sophomore at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo. He visited the livestock nursery last Tuesday.

Last year, a pregnant cow who got loose at the California State Fair was shot to death on the order of a UCD veterinarian. That incident prompted changes to the livestock nursery’s set-up, as well as several protests at the fair this year by the Oakland-based animal rights group Action for Animals.

Pregnant animals are staying in their pens to give birth this year, instead of being moved to a central arena with seating on all sides when birth is imminent. Spectators at the arena can watch the live births in progress on two large television screens.

In an email to The Enterprise, AFA coordinator Eric Mills reported that his group handed out 500 fliers and collected about 200 signatures on the fair’s opening day. About 25 protesters carried signs and talked with fairgoers about the issue.

Another 200 signatures were collected at a protest July 16, Mills said.

AFA plans to continue its protests Thursday and Saturday in the free speech zone to the right of Cal Expo’s main entrance. The fair closes Sunday.

“California is still in the 19th century. At the very least, they should install off-site live webcams,” Mills said.

Texas, Colorado and Oregon have replaced live birthing exhibits with this alternative at their respective state fairs, he added.

Citing veterinary studies, the group claimed that pregnant animals require peace and solitude to give birth, which, they added, the nursery does not provide.

Besides, Mills explained, “What people want to see is mothers and their babies, not the birthing process itself, which can be traumatic for all concerned.”

AFA is prepared to take its case to the state Legislature, if the Cal Expo board of directors refuses to alter the livestock nursery exhibit.

“These exhibits should be banned throughout the country,” Mills said.

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Amanda Sawyer, a 4th-year pre-vet student at UC Davis talks about “Sirius Black” a newborn Holstein bull in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Nicky Lewis waits with her daughter Kirra, 6, while her son, Kyle, 3, learns to milk a goat with UC Davis vet student Colleen Geisbush in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Kirra Lewis, 6, learns to milk a goat with UC Davis vet student Colleen Geisbush in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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UC Davis veterinarian Dr. Eric Davis speaks about the care of two-day-old spotted pigs in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Emma Rabe, 4, learns to milk a goat with Caitlin Green, a UC Davis student majoring in animal science major, in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Alyssa Bustamante, 5, looks up to her parents after learning how to milk a cow with the help of Caitlin Green, a UC Davis student majoring in animal science major, in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Chase Decoite, a 4th-year animal science student at UC Davis, moves a 2-day-old Boer goat to a cooler area of her pen. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Chase Decoite, a 4th-year animal science student at UC Davis, sets down a 2-day-old Boer goat next to her mother. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Erin Jones, a third-year vet student at UC Davis, scratches the chin of a three-day old Jacobs sheep Wednesday in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Two-day-old piglets rough-house with each other between feedings. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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A three-day old Jacobs sheep walks around its pen. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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A three-day old Jacobs sheep nuzzles up to its mother “Paulette” Wednesday in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Davis residents, from left, Mike Turay, his mother Colleen, Karen Barry, sister Eileen and father Tom take a gander at five-day-old bull “Hagrid” in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Sara Specht, a 2nd-year vet student at UC Davis monitors an even-gendered litter of 10 eight-day-old Yorkshire pigs in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Sara Specht cools a mother of two-day-old spotted pigs in the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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Sara Specht gives a talk about a litter of 10 eight-day-old Yorkshire pigs to visitors of the livestock nursery at the State Fair. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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