SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In the shadow of a Ferris wheel and just beyond the midway, The Great New York State Fair features a new exhibit: the Dairy Cow Birthing Center. For each calf birth – 19 have been born as of Aug. 28 – fairgoers have packed the barnyard maternity ward to standing room only.

Organized by Jessica Ziehm, a Cornell agricultural animal extension specialist and the executive director of the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, the birthing tent – replete with bleachers to accommodate 300 people – vies for popularity with the fair’s annual butter sculpture and 25-cent milk. By the end of the fair on Sept. 2, 2013, Ziehm believes that more than 30 calves could be born.

There are two pens in the tent: one holding the bevy of pregnant bovines and the other for those in labor. Once a cow goes into labor, she becomes short of breath, nests, walks in circles, then after a few hours lays down and delivers the calf.

At every birth, fairgoers pepper Cornell veterinary students, veterinary faculty and animal science undergraduates with questions about the cows. Chad Wall, a fourth-year veterinary student, said the crowd always asks why the new calves are isolated from their mothers so fast. “The calves have no immunity when they’re born,” he explains. If a calf were to suckle its mother and ingest bacteria, the calf would get ill. By removing the calf from the pen, the mother can be safely milked after giving birth. The nutrient-rich milk is tested for bacteria then fed to the calf.

Normally nature takes its course and a cow gives birth herself, but the Cornell veterinarians are standing by if she seems distressed. “Usually, we’re just spectators,” Wall said. But earlier this week, a laboring cow grew weak from birthing. Before a packed and fascinated audience, Charles W. Nydam of the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine and Wall assisted in the delivery of a bull calf.

In addition to Ziehm, exhibit organizers included Nydam, coordinator of the Summer Dairy Institute at the College of Veterinary Medicine; Charles Guard, associate professor, College of Veterinary Medicine; and Debbie Grusenmeyer, Cornell extension associate, Pro Dairy program, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Ziehm developed the birthing tent idea for the fair, but she says other state fairs have similar exhibits. “This is a wonderful way to educate people on the dairy industry and a wonderful opportunity to reach the fair’s million visitors,” she said.