When Major Bond reflects on the decades he and his family have been showing livestock at the N.C. State Fair, one story sticks out.
It should have been like any typical show. And it was – until one of his heifers went into labor. She wasn’t due to calve for a few weeks, Bond recalled, but the trip from his dairy farm in Hickory, North Carolina, “must have sped things along.”
As one might imagine, the sight drew a large crowd. Between 200 and 300 people gathered around to watch, a father and daughter among them. Bond remembers the child, probably 9 or 10 years old, struggling to get a view of the birth.
“The little girl was trying to watch and she couldn’t see and people were pushing her,” he said. “I said, ‘Come here.’”
He took her around to the front of the crowd, securing her a front-row view.
The next year, Bond recalled, the girl and her father stopped by to thank him, again, for letting her do that.
Making connections and memories like these is why Bond and his family have kept coming back to show dairy cows at the N.C. State Fair for 45 years.
“We have lots of memories,” he said. “And it’s been lots of fun over the years.”
First love
An Ohio native, Bond, 77, grew up going to his grandparents’ farm any chance he could, helping them with their chickens, hogs and – of course – cows.
“I was milking by hand when I was 4 years old,” he said. “I fell in love with cows.”
His second love – behind cows – is Lou, his wife of 50 years.
The two met in college at the University of Georgia, where he studied dairy science. They were set up on a blind date, Bond said, and she knew nothing about dairy farming.
After college, Bond worked on a dairy farm in Georgia for about four years before the couple moved to North Carolina – Lou’s native state. In 1977, Bond began operations at his 75-acre dairy farm in Hickory, Cherub Jersey Farm.
The following year, 1978, was the first year they showed livestock at the N.C. State Fair.
‘A family tradition’
Between Bond and Lou, their sons, Charlie and Harry, and three grandchildren, showing at the N.C. State Fair “just became a family tradition,” Bond said.
“I would call in all my favors at work so the State Fair could be my vacation,” he said, and they’d let their kids miss school for the week. “It was a big deal.”
As the boys got older, they began showing in the Junior exhibitions – Charlie at just three years old.
“He had a cow that was the same age as him, and he could drag that cow around and when he stopped, she’d stop,” Bond said. He showed her in the open show that year.
By the time his younger son, Harry, was growing up, the rules specified a child had to be six years old to show at the fair.
“We never did very well, but that was OK,” he said with a laugh. “It was what we liked to do. It was just a tradition and something we looked forward to.”
Now, his three grandchildren have shown at the fair – a sight he loves to see but wouldn’t force them to do.
“It’s OK with me if they don’t want to show, but right now they enjoy it,” Bond said.
While it’s become a family affair, Bond said it goes beyond that. The friends they’ve made at the fair over the years have become like family, too.
“It’s very special,” he said.
He milked cows for two decades, before ceasing operations in 1997, but has continued to show his cows at the state fair since that first year in 1978.
In addition to showing at the N.C. State Fair, Bond and his family have taken the show on the road – literally – traveling to state fairs across the country over the years, including South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
One year – 2017 or 2018 – Bond said he went to around 12 state fairs.
Bond and Lou moved to Wendell in April 2023 to be closer to Harry and his family, but they still have a few dozen dairy cows.
The 2024 N.C. State Fair will mark Bond’s 45th – with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the fair in 2020.
“I’ll keep showing,” he said. “Just as long as I’m able.”