David Nottingham stands in the Douglas County Fair pavilion during the swine show Wednesday, July 31, 2019. He has served as the fair veterinarian for the past 40 years.

Like a politician, David Nottingham walked through the Douglas County Fair pavilion during the swine show Wednesday night and said hello to everyone he passed.

Nottingham is not running for office but is certainly a familiar face to 4-H’ers and their families around the livestock barns after 40 years of serving as a veterinarian at the fair.

Along with veterinarian Michelle Colgan Hall, Nottingham checked in several hundred animals for this year’s fair. During the check-in, the vets looked for any infectious or contagious diseases, such as ringworm in cows, sore mouths on sheep or lice on pigs — anything that could be passed along.

Over the years, Nottingham has turned away animals. Last year, a cow was rejected because of warts. But this year the livestock all passed the exam.

During fair week, Nottingham is on call 24 hours a day in case an animal becomes sick or injured.

“I can come in and treat the animal, or they have the option to call their own vet,” Nottingham said. However, he rarely gets a late-night call from the fairgrounds.

“4-H animals are very pampered,” Nottingham said. “Everybody takes really good care of them. They want them to look good for the fair.”

Parents joke with him that they spend more money on the 4-H animals than they do on their own children.

Back when Nottingham first began working as a fair vet, he and other veterinarians would go to the farms and examine the animals that the 4-H’ers planned to bring to the fair.

Mady Allen, 7, holds a rabbit on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019, at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

4-H legacy

Nottingham’s 4-H roots go much deeper than just serving as a county fair veterinarian. His parents were 4-H’ers who participated in the Douglas County Fair when they were kids. The 64-year-old had his own time as a 4-H’er at the fair back in the 1960s. He took dairy cattle to the fair and would show up at dawn every day to milk the cows.

This year, no dairy cows were entered in the fair. Other changes he has observed over the decades include a rise in the number of 4-H’ers in the goat project.

“Goats are easy. They don’t take a lot of feed or care,” Nottingham said. “You deworm them and give them vaccinations.”

The next generation

In 1979, Nottingham met his wife, Jeanne, at Baldwin Junction Veterinary Clinic, where they both worked. She was a veterinarian technician and he was just out of vet school.

“We have been working together ever since,” he said.

They married in 1984 and bought the Baldwin Junction practice in 1986. Once their three children — Braxton, Conner and Paris — were old enough, they introduced them to 4-H. Jeanne has been the horse superintendent at the Douglas County Fair for 20 years.

“The fair is great,” Nottingham said. “Kids learn responsibility and to take care of animals and be on time.”

His own children have thanked him for the strong work ethic they developed through having 4-H projects.

In recent years, after his Baldwin Junction clinic was lost to the U.S. Highway 59 expansion, Nottingham decided to do without an office and opened Baldwin Junction Veterinary Mobile Service, which takes him to the animals. Plus, one day a week he uses the operating room at Lewis Veterinary Clinic in Lawrence, and another day per week he uses the surgical facilities at Baldwin City Companion Animal Hospital.

photo by: Jackson Barton

Claire Norris, left, 16, instructs Truth Pope, center, 9, on how to show a cow Friday, Aug. 2, 2019, at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Continuing with the fair

The Nottinghams are staples of the fair, said Kaitlyn Peine, 4-H youth development extension agent.

“They are huge supporters. He is always willing to serve as a veterinarian and is great with the youth,” said Peine, noting that a lot of 4-H’ers use him as their year-round veterinarian.

“We are a close-knit community and a lot of our families respect what Dr. Nottingham does,” Peine said.

She praised the devotion of the 100-plus volunteers who help out during the Douglas County Fair, many of whom grew up in 4-H.

“They all put in a 50- or 60-hour week to make the fair happen,” Peine said.

Nottingham, who is currently recovering from health issues, could have bowed out this year, Peine said, but, like the others, he’s deeply committed to the annual event.

Nottingham will be 65 in November and hopes to continue working and serving as fair vet until he is 70.

“I so appreciate his dedication,” Peine said.

photo by: Jackson Barton

A young fairgoer pets a pig Friday, Aug. 2, 2019, at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.