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NIKKI TUNDEL: 10 minutes ago, Maggie [? Jennison ?] and Molly [? Herberg ?] were asleep on the hay, literally. The 14-year-olds finished showing their heifers at the Minnesota State Fair, and now they're relaxing on mounds of straw in the cattle barn.

The remainder of their afternoon will be spent rolling their eyes at city dwellers, primarily the ones who teeter about the fairgrounds in high heels and insist on plugging their noses as they walk past the well-groomed cows and calves.

MOLLY: Some people are really weird. They'll ask you just really odd questions like--

MAGGIE: They ask, is it a boy or a girl when it has an udder. Or--

MOLLY: Yeah.

NIKKI TUNDEL: Maggie's from Brooten, Minnesota. Molly's from Saint Peter. The two spend a surprising amount of time explaining that it's the females and only the females that have utters. The two friends have been in 4-H since they were in kindergarten.

This year, they both entered Holstein calves in the dairy competition. For those not in the know, Holsteins are the iconic black-and-white bovines that produce the majority of America's milk. Maggie competed with her winter yearling, [? Nicky. ?] Molly showed Daffodil.

MOLLY: She's not the nicest animal, but she's just-- I don't know. She's really hyper. She kicks a lot sometimes, but she's nicer than my other one. My other one almost kicked the judge once, and that wasn't good.

NIKKI TUNDEL: This time around, Molly was able to keep her calf from headbutting others in the ring and was awarded a blue ribbon. Maggie picked up a blue as well. So how do these teenage girls celebrate such accomplishments?

[DANCE MUSIC]

They go dancing.

[DJ CASPER, "CHA CHA SLIDE"] Clap, clap, clap, clap your hand.

NIKKI TUNDEL: The first Saturday night of the fair is always set aside for the annual 4-H dance. It's a time for young competitors to let off some steam. For Maggie and Molly, it's a chance to check out 4-H-ers of the opposite sex.

MOLLY: Everybody always goes for the beef boys.

NIKKI TUNDEL: Meaning the boys who raise beef cattle.

MOLLY: They're better looking or they just clean up nicer. I don't know.

NIKKI TUNDEL: The one thing that's obvious about these beef boys is that they wear a lot of cologne. But perhaps that's just to make up for the fact that the dance is held in the swine barn. The judging arena has been swept out to make room for girls in skintight tank tops and boys in baggy John Deere T-shirts.

Just hours earlier, spectators sat in the stands, admiring the muscling on the market hogs. Now chaperones in bib overalls watch as farm kids groove to Justin Timberlake and Green Day and AC/DC.

[AC/DC, "YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG"] You shook me all night long.

Disco lights hang from the rafters, but the pens are still packed with hogs. A Yorkshire knocks over her water bowl when the DJ starts spinning Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." [? Freddie ?] [? Ricky, ?] the state's largest boar, appears to sleep through everything, although it's possible the 1,200-pounder is purposely keeping his eyes closed so he won't have to witness 14-year-olds dancing to songs like, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy."

Of course, aside from the curly-tailed onlookers, this is actually a pretty typical teen dance. Nearly every song seems to spark at least one conga line. Girls alternate between flipping their hair and sending text messages on their cell phones. And the social cliques remain firmly intact.

MOLLY: Like, the dairy people and the horse people don't get along. Well, that's just the way it goes. You notice that, right?

MAGGIE: Yes.

MOLLY: Almost anybody you talk to, that's how it goes.

NIKKI TUNDEL: Despite the inherent rivalries, Maggie and Molly admit there's a common bond among the state's 4-H-ers. They all know what it takes to keep a farm going. They know what it feels like to get thrown into a fence by a horse. And they know what it's like to see a newborn lamb take its very first steps.

MAGGIE: It's kind of something you explain to your friends, but then you don't really expect them to understand.

MOLLY: Yeah, they get sick of you talking about it because they don't really care, and they don't really get it. I don't know. It just gets annoying when your friends are like, I had to take out the garbage, and they're complaining. And it's like, come on the farm for once.

MAGGIE: Yeah. It does make you feel like you're a little more responsible, that you do a little more.

MOLLY: Yeah.

NIKKI TUNDEL: So how do these hardworking farm girls rate the big dance?

MAGGIE: I don't know. It's kind of lame.

NIKKI TUNDEL: And the fabled beef boys?

MAGGIE: Creepy. They don't know how to dance. That's, like, the main problem. And they're really sweaty. It's gross.

NIKKI TUNDEL: As it turns out, raising a prize-winning steer just isn't enough to impress teenage girls these days.

[THE VILLAGE PEOPLE, "YMCA"] YMCA. We'll go to the YMCA.

NIKKI TUNDEL: Nikki Tundel, Minnesota Public Radio News.

SPEAKER: Let me hear you make some noise!