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HAMILTON — Many 4-H members who show their animals in competitions and shows during the Butler County Fair use creative means to keep them cool.

The animals are kept in cages and pens at the fair while their owners show them to compete for titles.

Although temperatures at the fair are not as high as past years, with weekly highs expected to be in the mid-80s it was still necessary to keep the animals cool.

Although heat stroke and exhaustion are a concern, "we don't allow that to happen" said Secretary Manager Dan Martin.

Contestants with rabbits often freeze water in two-liter bottles for the bunnies to lay on, said Ross Twp. resident Janice McGinnis, whose children are showing four Harlequin rabbits.

"You just gotta watch them," McGinnis said, adding that the open doors and many fans also keep the rabbits cool.

Larger animals are periodically taken outside to be hosed off.

Edgewood High School senior Sarah Clark wets her lamb's skin and puts a thin cloth coat over it during hosings.

"It keeps it cool for a longer time," the Trenton teen said.

Other participants squirt their animals to help them beat the heat, said Trenton resident Jeff Hazelwood, an Edgewood senior showing pigs.

He added that providing them water also is vital.

Many people bring in personal fans for their animals, said 18-year-old Somerville resident Taylor Clay, who was showing her goat, Melvin.

Most participants said that they had not heard of any animals suffering from heat strokes or exhaustion this year, although Clay said a friend's rabbit had died.

No deaths or heat-related illnesses have been reported to the fair's office, Martin said.

Contact this reporter at bburks@coxohio.com.