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Fair Week Recap

August 4th, 2014 at 03:42 pm

We were at the fair last week. It was an expensive week.

DS2 doesn't do well at the fair, and frankly, it's easiest when both of them are away. Add to that that it wasn't a summer school week, and we spent a lot on baby sitting. My mom and dad helped out with them a lot, but they understandably wanted to see their grand daughters show their animals. DS2 did show DD2's goat in the just for fun clover bud show, and he showed a chicken as well.

Our girls did very well. DD2 won her age division of showmanship with her goat (that's the part of the show where the goat is not judged for meat production, but the child is judged for how well they fit and show the animal), and DD1 won her showmanship division with the dairy heifer. DD2 placed fourth in showmanship with her hog, and DD1 took third in showmanship with her goat. That was actually a set-back with the goat. DD1 has won the competition three of the past four years, and has never taken less than second. But, her goat was particularly stubborn this year, and she has made the dairy heifer her priority all summer.

As far as meat production judging went - they both finished in the middle with their hogs, near the bottom with goats and dairy (the heifer was too young do do really well, but we more more concerned with the behavior of the animal for her first year). DD2's chickens finished in the top quarter among 44 pens. You really have to pay top dollar for animals to do well in hogs and goats. DD1's goat was born at home, so we're happy that she raised, showed, and sold a home-grown animal.

Prices were up this year at the sale, and both girls finished the fair with some money to save for college. Prices were up enough that I did not buy a turkey, this year. Last year I paid $125 for a turkey that we ate for Thanksgiving. This year, no turkey sold for less than $200. I did bid about five of them up, though trying to buy one.

Really, the poultry competitions are a pretty fair comparison of a child's ability to raise an animal for the fair. Take our chickens for example. We bought 25 of them six weeks ago. We took 12 of them to the fair. Three each for three of the kids, and one pen of three chickens for our 4-H club. We went in with several other families on the order, so we all started out with random chickens. Then the children have to feed and water them, keep their pens clean, and keep them safe from predators. They can't be any older than six week, you must have the paperwork that shows the date they were hatched, and each of them must weigh at least five pounds. They start off on even ground, and may the best poultry producer win.

Compare that to other species like hogs, beef, goats, sheep that are purchased several months before the fair, after the animal is weaned. The buyer (and seller) already has an idea if the animal will finish as a great, good, or mediocre fair animal, and they are priced accordingly. The grand champions in those species paid top dollar for their animals.

We've never played that game. Of course during the fair, my instinct is to always think that next year, we want to win! We'll pay whatever it takes! But, thankfully I become more sensible, because there is only one winner, and several families that did pay top dollar and did not win. And, by time March rolls around, and it's time to buy pigs for the fair again, we decide to buy the moderately priced animals, and work on showmanship skills.

It was a good week. We had a great time, and we were all exhausted yesterday. We'll recover, and do it all again next year.

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