There were plenty of moos and neighs and peeps and baas from the hundreds of animals on display at this year's Butler Farm Show. But the barnyard chorus didn't outdo the oohs and aahs from two-leggers attending the 58th annual celebration of farm life.

The six-day festival was expected to draw up to 60,000 people to the Connoquenessing Township grounds by the end of yesterday's closing ceremonies.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Shannon Losser cries, hugs and kisses her horse, Jake, after winning the best of breed for Haflingers at the Butler Farm Show. Ms. Losser runs Golden Glory Farm in Forestville with Rick Fair. Click photo for larger image.

And while there's no doubt the thrust of the farm show was to showcase the annual projects of youths who are active in Butler County chapters of 4-H and Future Farmers of America, for those attending the fair, it was all about fun, especially fun with animals.

"What we like about this is that it's more, well, farm-y," said Darlene Ryniec, of Sarver. She and her husband, Ken, brought their grandchildren, Colten, 4; Karter, 5; and Killian, 9 months, to the show for an opportunity to pet horses, cluck at chickens or maybe even milk a goat.

"I like the bunny house," said Julianne Cafaro, 8, who will enter the third grade at Wyland Elementary School in Hampton School District this fall. "They're so cute and so soft. I just love them," she said.

She and her siblings, Christina, 7; Katie, 2; and Joey, 5, visited the show with four of their cousins, including Sadie Schiever, 8, who will enter third grade at Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School in Seneca Valley School District in a couple of weeks. "I like seeing the animals up close," Sadie said.

Carolyn Cafaro, of Hampton, Julianne's mom, said her children "love the farm show more than Disney World because of the animals."

This year's show boasted more than 1,400 animals on the grounds, including six market goats, 57 dairy goats, 400 rabbits, 259 chickens, 75 horses, 186 dairy cattle, 71 beef cattle, 46 steers, 79 lambs, 44 breeding sheep, 166 market hogs, 11 breeding hogs and a handful of more exotic animals, such as llamas and alpacas.

Carol Miller, of Worth, a director of the show and the premium officer, who doles out the prize money, estimated about 200 families had entries this year.

"This is a highlight of the year for a lot of our farm families," she said.

Most post multiple entries for judging, ranging from animals to pies and cakes. And, oh, the cakes. There were tables full of them, from sky-high angel food to chocolate so moist it looked like it would drip. In fact, winners of the apple pie, cookie and cake baking competitions will move on to compete in the Pennsylvania Farm Show contests in January.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Emma Freyermuth, 5, gets ready to feed some goats at the 58th annual Butler Farm Show. Emma was there with her mother, Eileen, and brothers Sam, 3, and Max, 7, all of Winfield. Click photo for larger image.

In all, not including the animals, there were 910 possible classes for entry under the range of categories primarily by item and by age, adult or under 21.

The big event of the week was Thursday's Junior Livestock Sale, which featured about 200 animals owned by about 90 children who had raised them as their annual 4-H or FFA project. The auction sale yielded about $111,000 last year. This year's figures weren't available by press time. The money went to the children auctioning the animals.

While animals were a highlight of the show, there were plenty of other attractions, including the usual farm festival features, such as tractor pulls, four-wheel drive contests, amusement rides and carnival games. Of course, there was food, running the gamut from slow-cooked beef brisket and stuffed pork chops to homemade pies.

The Butler Farm Show had a humble start in 1947, with a plowing contest on the property of Jack Roe in Meridian. The next year, Butler Farm Show Inc. was formed with a mission statement that focused on an annual show that would bring people together for a day.

Since then, the festival has grown to nearly a week, 105 acres have been bought, more than a dozen buildings constructed, and even an airstrip and a man-made lake installed on the grounds.

The farm show board's commitment to the event has been recognized. Last year, the Butler Farm Show was named the outstanding agriculture exposition in Zone One of Pennsylvania at the annual state fair convention in January at Hershey, Dauphin County. Zone One includes all of Western Pennsylvania, north to Erie and east to Clearfield.

"That's something we're very proud of," said Jim Lokhaiswer, secretary of the farm show board of directors.