Soule: What's a Fair Without Oxen?

After months of preparation and a three-hour drive to Woods Hole, Mass., we finally drove our truck and trailer, with four bovines and one donkey, onto the ferry for a 45-minute boat ride to Martha's Vineyard for its 160th Agricultural Fair. This year farm helpers Diane Hersey and Maggie Harrington joined us to help clean stalls, brush animals, and tour the island.

Once aboard, we climbed the stairs to the upper deck, where cool ocean breezes carried away thoughts of the oppressive heat and unfinished chores left behind in New Hampshire. Curious Bleu, our 1,600-pound Scottish Highlander steer, would have liked the view from the deck, but I'm not sure he'd do so well on the stairs. Besides, he probably would have added emphasis to the term "poop deck." So he and his mates, Scottish Highlanders June, Bear, Daffney, and Eleanor, the donkey, stayed in the trailer.

Our animals were there to compete, but not in the oxen and working-steer classes. The unwritten rules say that a team must both be males, and June and Daffney are females. Curious Bleu's horns are too long to yoke him with another steer, and there was no event for a single ox like Bleu.
By the way, "ox" is an occupation, not a particular breed or species. And an ox's job is to pull a heavy load chained to his yoke.

Because there are few oxen on Martha's Vineyard, the island's ag commission pays the ferry ticket for mainland teams to attend the fair. Even though he didn't pull, Bleu and I marched in the Parade of Oxen along with 20 other off-island teams.

Bleu is more than an ox; he is our riding and therapy steer. Most of the time, he hung out in the barn waiting for a carrot treat while watching a parade of visitors file by his stall. Generous Bleu even let some of the hard-working barn crew and fair-goers sit on him. When Ariel, a teenager, climbed on Bleu, her eyes lit up as she leaned forward, hugging him and giggling. Ariel participates in a horse-riding therapy program on the island and loves big animals; the bigger, the better. So Bleu was a dream come true. She could not get enough of him and returned to visit him the next day.

Even though our cattle didn't compete in the oxen classes, all four bovines got blue ribbons in the beef classes, and Eleanor got a blue ribbon in the donkey class. I'm also proud that Curious Bleu received "Best of Show." Bleu's championship ribbon was exciting, but delighting Ariel was a thousand times more rewarding.

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Carole Soule is the co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, N.H. She raises and sells beef, pork, lamb, eggs, and other local products. She can be reached at carolesoule60@gmail.com.