'Changeover Day' sees crews sanitize areas of Kentucky State Fair to keep livestock clean, healthy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Anyone spending Monday at the Kentucky State Fair won't see much livestock. That's unusual, and there's a reason for it.

Monday was changeover day, a nearly 20-hour operation that's essentially one massive cleanup. In the west wing, west hall and pavilion, crews spent the day filling and removing more than 60 dumpsters with hay and old tar paper and rolling out 625 new rolls of tar paper before the livestock are brought back inside.

All that work was done by about 100 people from midnight to 5 p.m., getting areas cleared and sanitized for all new livestock coming in.

"I think everybody has had a lot of awareness around the spreading of diseases between humans," said Ian Cox, a spokesman for Kentucky Venues. "Livestock, it shares a lot of those similar concerns. We have a lot of livestock, about 8,000 in total, coming throughout the 11 days of the fair. And the transmission of disease is something we have to be proactive about."

Kentucky Stare Fair Changeover Day — Monday was changeover day, a nearly 20-hour operation that's essentially one massive cleanup. Aug. 22, 2022. (WDRB Photo)

State Veterinarian Dr. Katie Flynn and her team with the Department of Agriculture are the first line of defense in ensuring the health of animals coming to the fair, making sure all animals entering have had a veterinary inspection within the last few days and checking them over again as they get off their trailers and continuously throughout the fair.

"It's really important that we check every animal that's coming in and out of this fairgrounds just so that when they go home, they're not bringing disease home," Flynn said. "And we're protecting all of our production animals so that we have healthy and safe food supply. So we want to make sure that nothing comes into the fair but nothing goes home sick as well."

It's a huge and continuous effort, but it helps make sure the stars of the fair have a comfortable and safe experience.

"We are committed to making sure that the livestock on property receive proper care and are taken care of," Cox Said. "(We) couldn't be more excited to celebrate the traditions and the passions that Kentuckians bring here."