GOUVERNEUR -- State Sen. Darrel Aubertine -- with more than three decades of milking experience -- won the Gouverneur and St. Lawrence County Fair Milking Contest on Thursday night beating out the fair’s defending champion, St. Lawrence County Legislator Fred Morrill of DeKalb Junction.

“It’s all in good fun and I had a great time,” said Aubertine, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “The fair this year has been tremendous. Walking through the barns, the farms in this county had some great livestock on display and along the midway, plenty of food and entertainment. The milking contest in and of itself was a great opportunity to participate in some good natured competition with friends. We had a good crowd for the event and I’m happy to see so many people out to support agriculture.”

Participating in the contest with Sen. Aubertine and Mr. Morrill, a fellow dairy farmer, were Gouverneur-area Legislators Alex A. MacKinnon, who finished third, and Donald Peck, who showed his willingness to have fun and share in some good-natured humor when he was asked to milk a goat. Mr. Aubertine’s pail had around 9 pounds of milk while Mr. Morrill’s pail had more than 4.5 pounds and Mr. MacKinnon’s had just 2.5 pounds.

Mr. Aubertine, who no longer has dairy cows on his farm, but continues to raise beef cattle and grow crops, was part of the winning team at last year’s New York State Fair in Syracuse.