Madisyn Rawson and Molly Loe would rather be out with cows or sheep than doing what many of their age do - sitting inside playing on a computer or watching television.
The two were showing off their skills at the North Otago A and P Show on Saturday, Madisyn (9) with Holstein Friesian calves and her own pet calf and Molly (10) with one of her six pet lambs.
Molly was ''besotted with sheep'', her family said.
She now has six Romney-cross pet ''lambs'', one for each of the years since she started.
''I kind of pick them when they pick me,'' she said when asked how she selected them.
But she is also realistic about the farming process and sells the progeny from her pet ewes.
Last year she got $118 each for Bessie's twins and calculated all the lambs from her pets earned her about $400 last year.
The sheep theme continued with her entries in the children's produce classes, scoring two firsts for her hobby tray on sheep and her vegetable animal, a cauliflower sheep.
Madisyn has been helping Rob and Katrina Kelly of Kailey Dairies at Devil's Bridge to prepare cattle for shows.
Now Madisyn has two pet calves of her own, Cotton and Rosa. Cotton would have been in the pet calf and other classes at Saturday's A and P Show, but had suffered sunburn on her back and had to be left at home, replaced by Rosa.
Madisyn loves working with the cows and calves, and had spent the last three weeks helping prepare them for the show.
Asked what she wanted to do in the future, Maddy said she would like to own more calves and perhaps run a club for calf owners.
Saturday's show was as much about children as it was adults, with pet lamb, pet calves and other activities attracting large numbers of spectators.
Association president Fiona Caldwell said the weather for first day on Friday, carnival on Friday night and main show day on Saturday had been the best for years, which boosted crowds.
