OTHELLO - Taylor Freeman grew up watching her cousins show dairy cattle at Grant and Adams counties fairs.

Now she is showing them. The 13-year-old Royal City girl brought three of them to the Adams County Fair to show. This was her fifth year showing the animals.

She points out the three Holstein cows she brought, a small one named Ella, a 1-year-old named Cassie and a pregnant 2-year-old named Vicky.

Raising dairy cows is a two-year project in 4-H, Freeman said. At the end, the cows are sold to farmers to use for milk. All of the cows she brought will be shown.

"You get them when they're small and you train them to lead, and when it gets closer (to fair) you have to clip them ... and just work with them so that they follow you when they're showing."

She was excited to show them. To get them ready, she needed to make sure they were cleaned in the morning, she said. She showed the cows in two classes. The first testing how well she handles the animal. The second judges how the cow looks.

Freeman travels to both the Grant and Adams counties fairs and sold three cows already.

"It's fun because you get to know them. You get attached to them," she said. "When I sell them, sometimes I go and visit them at the dairy. They remember me, so they come to me when I call them, and I go in there and I brush them and play with them and sometimes I bring them grain."

Each of the cows has different personalities, Freeman said. Some of the cows can be really loving and nice, while others prefer to be left alone.

"My big cow, she's very laid back and just follows me around," she said. "She doesn't like to be caught, but when she is caught she's very good. Most of the time, I bring her into a little corral, I just corner her (and) get her halter on. It doesn't take that long."

Freeman was sad to see Vicky sold, saying she's a very good heifer.

She plans on continuing to work with dairy cows and 4-H, Freeman said. Her mother, Deana, added Taylor plans to use the money for college so she will be showing all the way through high school.

"It makes it nice because she sells animals at each fair, so she's going to have a great college fund," Deana said. "(Taylor) does more and more of it every year. Obviously, she's getting bigger and stronger and she can handle a 1,500-pound animal on her own."

Taylor's involvement with dairy cows wasn't a surprise to Deana, who said it was expected.

"It's just a known thing with the Freemans. They've always known that they will show dairy," she said. "Somehow it was no surprise."