JEFFERSON – Celebrating her birthday at the Ashtabula County Fair every year as a little girl, Khloe DeFazio gained an interest in showing animals.
Those trips to the fair also gave DeFazio, 17, and a resident of Kingsville Township, the perfect scheme to convince her parents, Mike and Beverly DeFazio, to buy her a rabbit.
“I think coming to the fair every year for my birthday, I think that really made me interested in showing animals, and I had always wanted a rabbit,” DeFazio, a member of the J-Town Crew 4-H Club, said. “I figured 4-H was my way to get one.”
Though it wasn’t easy to convince her parents to let her raise a rabbit, she now has three and has branched out to show market goats.
“I always thought (rabbits) were so cute, and they were so small, so that’s always been something that I’ve liked,” DeFazio said. “With the goats, I wanted something bigger, and I wanted something that I could sell at the sale this weekend.”
“I think I’m just hoping to get enough to buy my goats for next year and then save the money for college that I get next year,” DeFazio said.
DeFazio was named First Attendant on the Junior Fair Royal Court earned Grand Champion with her marker goat, Remy, as well as first place in showmanship. She also competed with her rabbit, Stella, for top showman.
A senior at Edgewood High School, DeFazio has been showing rabbits since she was 9 years old.
“With rabbits, I’m a species mentor, and I really enjoy just helping kids learn about their project and helping them with their showmanship and helping them enjoy 4-H,” DeFazio said. “(Raising rabbits) was a really great experience. I think that it was really rewarding raising my rabbits. I have bred my rabbits, I’ve shown individual rabbits, and just seeing my rabbits grow up has been a great experience.”
The rabbits are more pet than show animals for DeFazio.
“Sometimes, I’ll cuddle with them,” DeFazio said. “Sometimes, I just put them in the yard in a fenced-in area, and they’ll just run around.”
Though it might have taken a bit of scheming and maybe a little convincing to get her parents to buy a rabbit, DeFazio’s parents have supported her along the way.
Training a rabbit for shows is more about getting them comfortable with people than anything else.
“It’s a lot of just practicing with them, stay calm to be able to flip them over, to be able to pose them,” DeFazio said. “It’s just a lot of practice.”
Showing market goats added some variety for DeFazio.
“It was just so different from the rabbits,” DeFazio said. “Rabbits, I feel like, are more hands on. The goat is more teaching them how to walk, not necessarily teaching them how to be comfortable around people. It’s more teaching them how to pose, teaching them how to walk, getting them to be bonded with you. With the market goat, a lot of it was feeding it the right food, getting it the right exercise, making sure it has everything it needs to grow.”
Goats are notoriously mischievous and stubborn, even Remy, who likes to give DeFazio a little attitude at times.
“It was definitely pretty difficult in the beginning, (Remy was) very stubborn, not walking,” DeFazio said. “They were kind of skittish around people, but now they’re doing great. We just had one go to an auction this week, and we’re hoping it did pretty good.”
DeFazio hasn’t found her goats on the roof of their barn, but they do tend to make a little trouble.
“Our goats used to run back and forth in their barn and jump off the walls and jump back down and hit their gate and it would be all night,” DeFazio said. “You’d be up all night. You’d just hear them hitting the walls. I think it was just really fun for them.”
There’s a lot to be learned for a youth as they raise animals through 4-H.
“I definitely learned it’s a lot of work,” DeFazio said. “It’s a lot of hard work. It’s responsibility, and you just have to be committed and dedicated to your animals.”
While DeFazio will bring her rabbits home from the fair, her goats will go to market and that won’t be easy for her.
“It’s definitely pretty difficult,” DeFazio said. “I’ve already had to say goodbye to one, and it was definitely heartbreaking, but I just know that it’s what’s got to happen. It’s part of the industry.”
As her time in 4-H winds toward its inevitable end, DeFazio knows she will miss the experience.
“I like coming to the fair,” DeFazio said. “I like raising my animals all year, and I love the experiences of meeting new people.”
