Jade, a 4-year-old black Labrador retriever who works on her family’s walnut farm in Tulare County, has earned the Grand Prize in the first California Farm Bureau Farm Dog Contest. The award was announced today during the 102nd California Farm Bureau Annual Meeting.
Lindsey Swall, an agriculture student at California State University, Fresno, won the $1,000 prize for her photos and essay on Jade.
In her essay, Swall said Jade “has a confident, selfless and gentle personality that is contagious and makes us better people,” and also highlighted how dogs offer farmers emotional support.
“Farmers work hard to provide for others, and their job is never ending. Farming can be taxing both mentally and physically, so it takes a strong dog to support us in what we do,” she said. “Mental health is a topic often neglected on the farm, which is why it is important to highlight the work that dogs do to support farmers.”
Open to Farm Bureau members, with support from Nationwide, the Farm Dog Contest asked entrants to submit photos and a brief story about their dog.
First place in the contest, and a $500 prize, went to Colusa County farmer Brett Perry and his Australian shepherd, Hondo.
The second-place prize, and $250, was earned by El Dorado County rancher Jim Davies and his McNab shepherd, Tip.
Third place, and $100, was awarded to Santa Barbara County farmer Judy Paulson Dewey and her Groenendael Belgian sheepdog, Brugge.
The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 34,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of nearly 5.6 million Farm Bureau members.
AWESOME!! Our dogs are members of our family and should be treated as such. Almost “human” like qualities exist within them all in different degrees. Hurray for our farm dogs and congratulations!!🐶🤗😘