By Elizabeth Ahlin
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

DES MOINES -- Whitney Horn put her arm through the cage and ran her hand lightly over the calf's head.

Lucy, the young cow, just 9 hours old, barely stirred as Whitney stroked her soft coat. Lucy was flanked by Tommy and Matt, also young calves born within the last 24 hours.

Whitney and her brother Ryan Horn, 10, whispered soothing hellos to the animals as they slept.

Over the first two days of the fair, enough babies were born in the Paul R. Knapp Animal Learning Center to provide some education and entertainment for curious fairgoers of every age.

Just as Whitney's mother, Tracy Horn, began to utter a quick thanks that her children weren't 60 pounds at birth, a real kid made its way into the world.

At the Animal Learning Center, fairgoers are able to hold baby chicks and ducklings, as well as witness cows, sows, nanny goats and ewes give birth. The facility -- new to the fair last year -- was designed to give people a good look at farm animals giving birth, as well as babies during their first week of life. Large flat-screen televisions screen live births and replay them later.

All eyes were on those screens, or the goat pen, that afternoon when a young goat was born.

Applause broke out in the crowd as a black and white kid slipped out of its mother's uterus and onto the ground.

Jared Dollison, 9, and Jason, 6, looked on in awe.

Behind them, Julie Balmer, 21, was no less mesmerized.

"I just think it's fascinating,'' she said.

Des Moines developer William Knapp, who donated $750,000 for the facility, named the building for his brother. For the Iowa State Fair Board, it was another way to bridge the gap between urban and rural fairgoers.

That wasn't lost on Whitney and Ryan, who said the newborn farm animals were nothing like they had seen at Kansas City petting zoos.

The Iowa State Fair runs daily through Sunday. Admission is $10. Call 800-545-FAIR (3247) or visit www.iowastatefair.org for more information.