Moses Lake girl forges bond with dairy heifer

OTHELLO - Taya Sandmann, 15, of Moses Lake, has a strong bond

with her dairy heifer, Missile.

The Moses Lake teen smiles and gently pulls Missile's halter to

bring the animal's face into the camera's view.

OTHELLO - Taya Sandmann, 15, of Moses Lake, has a strong bond with her dairy heifer, Missile.

The Moses Lake teen smiles and gently pulls Missile's halter to bring the animal's face into the camera's view.

Missile, 1, nudges Taya, bringing her wet nose toward the girl's face, but misses reaching her owner.

Taya describes Missile as "very sweet."

"She's just like my dog," Taya said. "I love how friendly they are. They just become your babies after a while. They become your best friends."

She showed Missile at the Adams County Fair and belongs to the Wrangler Rancher 4-H Club.

She also plans to show Missile at the Grant County Fair next year and then return the animal to the dairy she's from.

Taya's shown fair animals for three years, starting with sheep. She switched to cattle after becoming bored with sheep.

Nearby, Sarah Peters, 18, of Moses Lake, is holding a champion round ribbon earned by her steer, Ace.

She's shown fair animals for a total of 11 years and also spent some of that time working with sheep.

Her father, cattleman Clint Peters, got her interested in showing animals.

Aside from showing, her duties at the fair include sweeping the sidewalks in the animal barn, mucking out stalls and feeding Ace.

"It's good, it's fun," she said of her time at the fair.

But this is her last year at the fair, Sarah acknowledged.

"It's kind of sad," she commented.