Father-son duo make judging debut at Washington County Fair

WASHINGTON — Max Petzenhauser grew up around sheep, goats, pigs and county fairs for essentially his entire life. Alongside his two sisters, he’s shown these animals at the Story County Fair for nearly all of the two decades he’s been alive.

This experience culminated in his now two-year judging career. Tuesday’s sheep show in Washington County marked the second county fair he’s judged so far.

However, Max Petzenhauser was not alone in the show barn on Tuesday. He was joined by one other judge ― his father Mike Petzenhauser.

Mike Petzenhauser, 60, and his son made the two-and-a-half hour drive from their small goat and sheep farm in Roland, Iowa, to judge the sheep show at the Washington County fairgrounds. Mike Petzenhauser also has been involved in the sheep and fair scene since he was a child and has judged at shows all across the state.

Tuesday’s sheep show was the first time the pair have judged together. Both said it went well and with little disagreement on winners, but in rare moments where they did disagree, they were able to talk things out.

Both have decades of sheep exhibiting experience under their belt.

Like judging, showing livestock has always been a family affair. When the Petzenhauser children were young and participating in their own shows, the entire family would pitch in day-in and day-out to help take care of the animals.

“It’s a full-time job, it’s a labor of love,” Mike Petzenhauser said. “We spend pretty much all day, every day out in the barns with our stock.”

Max Petzenhauser credits his two sisters for getting him interested in showing livestock and teaching him the ropes, especially when it came to showmanship.

“It’s not crazy for ― in any given showmanship ring ― for the females to be the best showmen just because they pay that much more attention to detail, and they have to get everything right it seems,” Max Petzenhauser said. “So I’ll definitely accredit my showmanship skills to them.”

For the Petzenhausers, the fair has come to mean more than just herding animals around a ring to be judged. It also represents community, family and responsibility.

Max Petzenhauser said he’s never met more quality people than when he’s at the fair showing livestock. Participating in the fair and taking care of an animal makes a person hard working and accountable, he said, and this has rang true in his own life.

Despite no longer showing sheep himself, Max Petzenhauser’s work ethic with livestock remains.

“A big rule that I have is my animals eat usually before I do,” he said.

The father and son judges said they had a great time judging Tuesday and would judge the Washington County Fair again if invited to do so.

“You can tell that this is going to be a really good show … in the next coming years,” Max Petzenhauser said. “I’d be happy to judge here again. The quality that I saw today, I think it’d be a fun event.”

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