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At the age of 6, Leyton Marker is already a seasoned turkey exhibitor at the Skagit County Fair.

As he clutches the body of one of his four turkeys and talks about the ribbons he won last year, it jumps, towing the fair-haired boy along for the ride.

He shows that he has control, calms it down and continues talking about what he did to prepare for the fair.

“I washed them and let them dry off in the sun,” he said.

Leyton was one of hundreds of animal exhibitors bringing various animals to the fairgrounds Tuesday afternoon.

Every animal must go through a veterinary check before being admitted, a process that lasted from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Veterinarians from Chuckanut Valley Veterinary clinic checked each animal that came to the fairgrounds — palpating, prodding, poking and examining every part of the body.

“We are looking for diseases that could be passed from animal to animal,” said Jake Serale, a veterinarian from the clinic. “We are just trying to be advocates for the animals.”

They look for fever, ringworm, fleas, lice, ticks, foot rot, swollen glands, diarrhea and any other signs of illness that could be spread to other animals in close quarters.

Any with a disease or malady that could spread cannot stay.

“That is always a disappointment,” Serale said. “But an outbreak is an outbreak.”

Serale said that in his eight years checking animals, he has only rejected three animals.

Trailer loads of cows, pigs, sheep and horses from various farms around the region brought dozens of animals being shown in barns all over the fairgrounds this week.

Elisa Brown’s horse “Joe” was one of the first horses examined by veterinarian Greg Ingman. Elisa, a 14-year-old freshmen at Burlington-Edison High School, is showing Joe with her 4H group called the “Road Runners.” She is competing in the performance competition, where she is judged on how much control she has over the horse.

One aspect of the livestock shows that is fairly new to the Skagit Valley Fair is the auction held on Friday.

After competing in fitting and showing, (judging of handlers’ presentation and control of animal), and type class (judging of appearance and physique of animal), handlers have the choice of auctioning off their animals to buyers.

Wendy Ringhouse hopes to sell her two angus cows, Moose and Pride, on Friday for about $1.50 per pound. It is all business for the 17-year-old Sedro Woolley High School senior who has been showing cows for almost nine years.

Amanda Nemnich is showing sheep this year. The 11-year-old sprays water on her sheep to rinse off soap suds from washing their stained wool.

Preparing her sheep for the show takes a lot of work, she said.

“We had to wash the sheep, shear them, put them into a trailer, load up the trailers with hay and tack, and then come here,” Amanda said.

While some have only been preparing for a few days, 16-year-old Benjamin Janicki has been busy getting ready for more than four weeks.

Janicki, the assistant poultry superintendent in the avian barn, has been collecting fertilized eggs from his collection of pheasants, chickens, ducks and turkeys to make an egg hatching exhibit.

He started incubating the eggs about a month ago, adding new eggs to the incubator about five times a day, so that eggs would be perfectly timed to hatch throughout the fair.

While the wonders of the birth of animals is one exhibit, 12-year-old Jason Nemnich knows the reality of what happens to the sheep he has raised to show at the fair.

“One in a million is sold as a pet,” he said. “Most are sold for meat.”

He added that lamb is one of his favorite meats.

• Keith Chaplin can be reached at 360-416-2155 or .