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4H projects

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,954
274
Appalachia
Kennie G is a pumpkin growing champion!

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Hedgelj

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,271
178
Mohicanish
Judging was a bit like the Buckeyes, underwhelming. Took 4th in showmanship, 5th in market. The judge said he didn't care how clean the birds were, which is BS in my opinion since some kids went the extra mile and others brought birds I'd have been embarrassed to have had our name attached to. Overall, it was a good learning experience and that's the whole point.

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Middle sis participated in pee wee showmanship and she's hooked. All she talks about is getting a cow and today only drove it home. I suspect we'll be back in the cattle business in the next year or so.

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That's crap considering how much the poultry board talked about washing them in our meetings.

I know a guy if you want to do shorthorns.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,954
274
Appalachia
Our fair board really needs to rethink our sale structure 🤕

Sale started at 4P and we left the barn at 12:10A. Chickens sold last, meaning Kaydence sold #309 and #321 out of 335 animals/pens. Makes for one long ass day for everyone, especially buyers. There weren't many left by the end. Thankfully old dad knows a few folks and out of 44 pens of chickens, Kaydence was the only one to net over $2K total. She made $875 on the first and $1,150 on the second, plus we had an add-on bid from a buyer that left early, so there's an unknown amount added to that total. I was honestly hoping for $500 a piece given our selling order, so she topped last year by another $500+ bucks. Her first pen was a surprise buyer who stated he jumped in because we were one of the only families to sit through the entire sale. I know him from one of the boards I serve on, so that really made my day in particular. Overall, I'm happy to be done! Well, mostly. Still have 11 chickens to butcher, so I'll buy the beer if you'll show up Friday evening to help!
 

NWOHhunter

Junior Member
879
58
NW Ohio
Our fair board really needs to rethink our sale structure 🤕

Sale started at 4P and we left the barn at 12:10A. Chickens sold last, meaning Kaydence sold #309 and #321 out of 335 animals/pens. Makes for one long ass day for everyone, especially buyers. There weren't many left by the end. Thankfully old dad knows a few folks and out of 44 pens of chickens, Kaydence was the only one to net over $2K total. She made $875 on the first and $1,150 on the second, plus we had an add-on bid from a buyer that left early, so there's an unknown amount added to that total. I was honestly hoping for $500 a piece given our selling order, so she topped last year by another $500+ bucks. Her first pen was a surprise buyer who stated he jumped in because we were one of the only families to sit through the entire sale. I know him from one of the boards I serve on, so that really made my day in particular. Overall, I'm happy to be done! Well, mostly. Still have 11 chickens to butcher, so I'll buy the beer if you'll show up Friday evening to help!
Our fair changed their sale up a few years ago.....No animals come through with the kids, You get your market price(which is freaking low for pigs) and then your premium is what is bid on. That way, they know right away what they spent. You can also get online and do an add-on. It definitely speeds things up. It starts at 9:00 a.m. with a gallon of milk and is usually over by Noon.
 

Hedgelj

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,271
178
Mohicanish
So yesterday was check in for all my daughter's projects.

Picked out the 4 best looking chickens and washed them Friday night. Put them in their own place with fresh pine shavings and water and food. Weighed the rabbits (max weight is 88oz) and they were all 82 oz or less.

Wake up, do the morning chores, all the chickens look great, fresh water, rabbits look good, fresh water, morning food.

Go to fall rec softball.

Come back get changed and head to start loading up....

We have a dead chicken in the group of 4. Grab my scale and the other 3 are over the max weight limit of 27#. Run to the coop and find the next best looking chicken and set my wife and daughter to cleaning it with baby wipes. Get them figured out and they all (3) look pretty good with similar weights of 8lbs and 4-8 oz.
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They aren't the best looking ones there but they are very similar and upper third in looks. We find out later today because we have showmanship and the judging for poultry at 4pm.

Go to the rabbits. Weigh them and 1 is more at 88oz (max) and another is wavering between 86-88oz on my cabelas meat scale. How does a rabbit gain 6 oz in less than one day! It hasn't evergreen been given that much food since we last weighed them! Oh well it is what it is.
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Get to the rabbit barn.
The one weighed 4.46 lb and her pen of three were 4.32, 4.43 and 4.50 lb max weight of 5.5 each and 16.5 for the pen. I think we did as good as we could.

Judging for that is tomorrow (Monday). Then the sales on Thursday and Dog obedience and agility on Saturday.
 

Hedgelj

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,271
178
Mohicanish
What a whirlwind and its only Tuesday!

Sunday - Poultry Show
After some controlled chaos over the show location being moved mid-show (during the turkeys) it became a Looooong 6.5 hour show. There were over 66 pens of market chickens alone. My daughter placed 5th in showmanship which was great. Her pen did not place in the top 10 but we know a few members of the poultry committee and they told me on the scorecard yesterday that she actually placed 12th. So we are really happy with those results. Now to just keep them alive until sale day (thursday).

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Monday - Rabbit show

First up was showmanship. She was with the other 11 or under first time rabbit projects and got first! So it was a great day. Next up was her pen of 3 (heaviest in the show by about 0.75 lbs) and she got 2nd in her class and third overall! My wife and I were amazed and thrilled at this point for her. Then it was her single fryer. When we had been weighing them every 4 days (or every day the last week) I had told her to feel them and figure out who was the most muscular and filled out (that was the only thing I could think of to help her decide what went where besides closest to identical for her pen of 3). She had been telling me her one rabbit was much more muscular than the others and I said I trusted her and it was her call. Hers was the 2nd heaviest in the show so it was in the last class. In the pens of 3 we noted that all the first place finishers in each class were white with dark colored ears and all of hers are all white (New Zealand white) so we didn't know if that was a preference of the judge or what. But here we go. She got first in her class! Then when they put all the first place class finishers the judge barely touched her rabbit. But she won Grand Champion and the judge said he was easily the best rabbit in the whole show and none of the others came close!

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And if that wasn't enough there was a small animal costume contest in the evening. She won that with her costume of a 50s girl with herself one of her rabbits also dressed up in a poodle skirt!
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
57,196
274
North Carolina
That’s just an awesome recap of all that time and work she put into that show…… As well as mom and dad…… Congrats too you all!
 
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