Art by animal tongues: Priddis Millarville Fair picks slobbery winner in licked salt-block contest

There's a title handed out at the Priddis Millarville Fair each year that inspires both intrigue and confusion: "Most Artistically Licked."

This year's winner is blue, sprinkled with manure and covered in holes of various shapes and sizes.

It's a salt block. And it's been masterfully moulded by the tongues of animals at Sylvia Checkley's property.

"The smaller [holes] were done by a goat and the larger ones, sort of the smoothing ones, were done by the horses," she said in an interview on Daybreak Alberta.

"There's some little remnants of pasture. I think there's a little leaf on it somewhere, too."

The licked salt block, or "pasture art," has been a staple competition at the Priddis Millarville Fair for a decade. To enter, livestock owners must submit a heavily enjoyed salt lick — a block of salts and minerals left out for animals to snack on. 

The blocks must be licked by livestock as "human enhancement may result in massive loss of credibility," the rules warn. Entries must also be presented in "pasture" condition.

It's all in good fun, said Barb Parker, who runs the contest, but it serves a purpose.

"The people that come here, as opposed to a place like the Stampede, they're coming here to learn about the country that surrounds the city, and so this is one way that we can help to educate them in a really fun way," she said.

This year, the competition had eight entries. The fair committee also added a creative twist — submissions could include a corresponding poem.

"We thought, since we call this pasture art, we should follow the art theme and bring a poem into it," said Suzanne Sills, chair of the Priddis Millarville Fair.

In that portion of the contest, Checkley also took home the victory.

"I'm thrilled," she said.

"I'm going to share it with the animals when I get home."

Although this year's edition of the fair has wrapped, there's plenty of competitions to prepare for next summer, including rooster crowing, watermelon eating and best horse costume. 

Sills says it's all part of what makes their fair unique. 

"We're one of the last old-time country fairs in the province, and we always try to come up with something new and different to entertain people that come every year to visit."