Conley marks 50th year as fair veterinarian

The 2010 Plymouth County marks Dr. John Conley's 50th year as fair veterinarian. During that time, he's never missed a day of the fair. He stands with Mike, one of the Belgians he and his wife, Barbara, bring to the fair each year to give wagon rides around the fairgrounds. [Click to enlarge]

4-H'ers and their families know and trust him as the fair's veterinarian.

The 2010 Plymouth County Fair marks Conley's 50th year as fair veterinarian.

That's a position he's held since he came to Le Mars in 1961 when he purchased a local veterinarian practice.

During those 50 years, he's never missed a day at the fair.

"The fair board asked me if I'd be the fair vet that year and I said yes," said Conley.

For the new vet in the area, it was a wonderful way to meet people.

"At that time it was mainly a rural practice, treating livestock, so I got to meet a lot of people through the fair," Conley said.

The fair board continued to ask him each year to be the fair's vet, and he always said yes.

"Now the State of Iowa mandates that there must be a vet at the fair to check in the animals," he said.

That's to ensure the animals are healthy and no diseased animals are brought to the fair and also that the animals are properly cared for.

He also monitors animals throughout the fair, especially if the weather is very hot and humid.

"When it's hot, at almost every fair you'll have an animal that gets over-heated," Conley said.

There have been a few changes since Conley started his fair job.

"The entire fairgrounds has grown and spread out," he said.

There's been a change in livestock, too.

While the number of large animal livestock has decreased, he has watched the number of rabbits and poultry entries increase.

"I think part of that is there are more acreage rather than farm people," Conley said.

As Conley looks out across the fairgrounds, he said he's probably dealing with third generation 4-H'ers.

"Some of these gray-haired people weren't even born when I started here," he said with a smile.

Conley has a lot of stories of incidents at the fair.

He shared how many years ago, a family brought in a steer to the fair that was quite nervous.

"They asked me to give it a tranquilizer," Conley said. "That was 35-40 years ago. Now we can't give it."

"I didn't want to give it, but they insisted," he said.

Conley went to get a syringe, filled it with a small amount of sterile water instead of a tranquilizer, and injected it into the steer.

When he went to check on the steer later, it was lying down.

"Some kids walked by, look at the steer, and said, 'Yup, that's the time the vet gave too much tranquilizer to,'" Conley said.

He smiled at the memory.

Conley isn't just the vet at the fair, though.

He served on the fair board for a couple years, but found he couldn't devote the time that was needed to do that job.

"I judged the pet show for about 20 years," he said. "They had all kinds of pets, not just cats and dogs. I finally had to give that up."

While his wife, Barbara, was serving on the fair board, the late Art Bollinger donated his Belgian draft horses to the fair.

"Barbara volunteered us to keep Red and Rusty and take care of them," Conley said.

Soon the couple was adding more Belgians to their farm.

That brought the Conleys and Dean and Bonita Davison together to bring a draft horse show to the Plymouth County Fair, which they continue to work as superintendents.

Conley was familiar with draft horses, as he grew up with them on the family farm near Kingsley.

He exhibited one year at the Plymouth County Fair as a young boy before the family moved to the Anthon area in 1943.

Conley entered one hog, a Poland China breed, his brother, Don, had two or three.

"My pig took 13th place," Conley said.

As he tells the story of his first time exhibiting at the local fair, he pauses, then recalls a life-changing moment for him.

The first-time exhibitor was wearing a feedsack shirt his mother had made, and bib overalls.

"This young guy came over to me, called me Johnny, and took me over to a stock tank filled with water, ice and soda bottles. He handed me an orange soda," Conley said.

The young man was Marion Feeney, just 18 years old.

"That was Marion's last fair," Conley said. "The next year he was killed in the Normandy invasion in Europe during World War II," Conley said in a voice which still chokes with emotion as he tells the story.

Feeney's kindness to a young farm boy made a deep, lasting impression on Conley.

"I dedicate my fair time to Marion," he said. "He still influences my life. He was special."

Conley said through the years he's worked with great people on the fair board and at the Plymouth County Extension Office.

"They were always there with offers to help," said Conley.

Wednesday evening at the Pioneer Village stage, Fair Board President Terry Reuter called Conley to the stage to present him with a plaque honoring him for his 50 years as fair veterinarian.

As he thanked Reuter for the award, Conley said, "You won't find a nicer group of people to work with than those on the fair board."

Conley still works full time at his practice, Town & Country Veterinary Clinic in Le Mars.

In his spare time, Conley likes to write poetry and short stories. He hopes to put together a book of his writings.

"I'm no Baxter Black but I enjoy writing," said Conley.