Got milk? One Stanly County toddler will likely prefer chicken over beef as he gets older after his first kiss went to a calf.

As a result of the mutual pucker 2-year-old Waylon Smith Blalock will be featured in the 2018 Carolina Farm Credit photo calendar.

Courtney Blalock submitted a photo of her son, Waylon, nose to nose with a wobbly-legged calf while the tyke was straddling a toy John Deere tractor. The photo captures the essence of life on a farm, a dairy farm to be precise.

Waylon was sitting on the miniature tractor as the curious and loving black and white calf nuzzled the youngster for a gentle, yet wet, kiss.

“He loves any type of animal,” mother Courtney Blalock said of her son’s affection for livestock.

The photo, titled “sMOOch,” was taken at her family’s Smith Dairy Farm on Loop Road in Norwood. Caroline Brothers of 704 Photography took the photo, Blalock said.

Blalock entered the slice of life shot in the Carolina Farm Credit 2018 Photo Contest. Once a day in the month of July website visitors cast votes digitally for their three favorite photos.

“sMOOch” was good enough for third place, winning $100.

Alvin Dixon of Piney Creek claimed the top prize for “Summer Harvest.” First prize netted $300.

Runner-up honors and $200 went to Brooke McMeans of Crumpler for her photo “Sitting in Solitude.”

The winning photos along with the photos that were chosen for voting can be found on Carolina Farm Credit’s website: http://www.carolinafarmcredit.com.

In all, more than 1,200 photos were submitted and over 12,500 votes were cast. This year’s collection of rural North Carolina photos includes images of kids on farms, farm animals, farm equipment, scenery, and winter snow.

Carolina Farm Credit will begin accepting entries for the 2019 photo contest beginning in January 2019 at carolinafarmcredit.com.

Contact Ritchie Starnes at 704-754-5076 or ritchie.starnes@stanlynewspress.com.