UMA’s Clark wins big in family business

MADISON, Wis. - University of Maine at Augusta women's basketball player Lindsey Clark had a busy fall, busier than normal for the average college freshman. Clark, who grew up on a dairy farm in Cornish, New Hampshire, spent the fall traveling to a number of Dairy Expos where she was showing any one of the family's different types of cows. 

Upon winning the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Massachusetts in September, Clark and her family went on to attend the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, where Clark won the title of Grand Champion of the junior show among a field of 25 other cows being shown from all over the country.

Clark won the title with a milking shorthorn cow named Lady 906, a cow that her older sister showed to win the title in 2014. 

"Showing cows is a family thing," Clark said. "But I like doing it because I like to win and it's a competition between me, my sister, and one of my brothers who started his own farm."

And exactly what does showing a cow entail? 

"We wash them, clip all of their hair except what's on the back bone, giving them a mohawk on the back so they look straight," Clark said. "With the milking cows, we have to weigh their milk before the show to find out exactly how much milk they are making so that their udders are full for the show, which is one of the things the judges look at in making a decision."

At the Springfield show, Clark and her family showed a total of 36 cows and nabbed 22 first place ribbons in their respective classes. In Wisconsin, they showed 14 cows and won an astounding 12 blue ribbons at the expo. 

The dairy farm where Clark grew up typically ships the milk from their cows to Agri-Mark who then ships it to Cabot Cheese in Vermont.