lisa odwyer

Though she lives in the heart of Lake Highlands, Lisa Odwyer is a country girl at heart. She works two nursing jobs, yet spends her day off at her farm in Poetry, Texas (a 35-minute drive from the neighborhood), caring for her five horses, two turkeys, 30 or so chickens, five sheep, one longhorn, a donkey, a couple of dogs and cats, and 20-plus goats.

Donning a pair of leather cowboy boots, a gratuity for her State Fair Junior Livestock Committee service, Odwyer kicks open gates and makes her way through the rowdy neighing, cawing crowd of farm animals.

“This is a reprieve for me,” she says. “I can be out here all day long. This is what I enjoy doing.”

Separate from the other animals are three snowwhite saanens — dairy goats — one with a blatantly bulging udder. These are the show goats, and in the show, held inside the fairground’s Pan Am Building during the first week of the Fair, it’s all about the udder, Odwyer says.

“It’s about the milking system, the tits, to be blunt. That’s what [the judges] are looking at.” She hopes to enter the heavily lactating Big Mama, also known as Foxy and officially registered as Think Like a Fox, as well as the younger, smaller Briar Bay, nicknamed Botox Beauty (Odwyer works in a plastic surgeon’s office). She hoists Foxy onto a feeding block, and commences milking.

“They can produce as much as two gallons a day.”

As evidence, within moments, she fills a steel bucket with foamy goat’s milk. On the day of the show, Odwyer will dress in all white and strut her goat for the judges. This day, Botox Beauty pulls and hops on the leash. She needs a little practice before the big competition.

“It’s a little like the dog show, but they aren’t judged too much on their behavior,” Odwyer says.

She knows. One of her first State Fair entries, back in the 1970s, was her pair of poodles. She has entered and won State Fair photo contests over the years. She photographs mostly animals.

“Look at all this,” she says, motioning toward two of her rescued wild mustangs. “You can see why I want to take pictures of this. I always carry my camera around the farm.”