When is the Deadline to Tag Your May Fair Steers?

The following comes courtesy of Brianna Boyd: 

All Solano County youth showing steers in the 2013 Dixon May Fair must have their animal ear tagged at the fairgrounds on Jan. 19.

As per fair guidelines, market beef must be owned a minimum of 120 days prior to the start of the 2013 fair, or by Jan. 10, 2013. The May Fair has set Jan. 19 as a mandatory ear tagging day for all steers.

The ear tagging will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. No appointment is necessary. All exhibitors are required to provide a bill of sale, a yellow transportation slip and proof of insurance before a steer can be tagged. Proof of insurance can include a home or a ranch, fair officials said, or insurance can be purchased through the CFSA. Any animal without the necessary paperwork will not be tagged.

If an animal cooperates, ear tagging could be complete in as little as 10 minutes.

Scales will also be available if exhibitors would like to weigh their animals.

The Dixon May Fair’s Junior Livestock Auction is open to any Solano County youth between the ages of nine and 18, but typically, only teenagers raise steers for the annual event. Besides the added expense of caring for such a large animal, there are more challenges to raise them, including the time needed to halter break them.

Most of the youth raising steers for the 2013 May Fair have had their animals for some time already, and have started working with them. If the cattle are handled regularly, the animal typically walks up to the scale and can be weighed and tagged easily.

The May Fair has also set the date for ear tagging for market goat and sheep. Those animals will be tagged between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 9.  4-H leaders, FFA advisors or market hog leaders can pick up ear tags prior to the March 9 date, and swine can be tagged outside the fairgrounds. Tags and paperwork will be available for pick up in the office in late February.

The 138th annual Dixon May Fair will open on Thursday, May 9 and will entertain thousands of visitors through Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12.  For more information, visit www.dixonmayfair.com or call the May Fair office at 707-678-5529.