These past three weeks have been very busy getting ready for the fair and preparing for my community garden project. Then this past week was our County Fair. I started off my community project by travelling to some well done gardens to look into how to build the best raised bed since that is how we were going to plant. Then Alex (the 4H agent) and I went shopping for flowers to determine which ones would work well in the garden since they want primarily a pollinator garden. And then Rickey (the small farm assistant) has a very well grow garden and flower garden which he has allowed us to pick from as we want. However we are still waiting on the cedar boards, so hopefully we will get them soon and get a move on for my project. We also had ham speech videos to explain how they wanted each speech to be. Right before fair we also had the Ham Wash.
Ninety five percent of the past three weeks have been about fair and getting fair stuff ready, along with a few farm visits here and there. To start off on fair cleanup, the livestock show barn had around 60 plywood boards that had been made as a dedication to those that donated money to build it in 1990ish and we decided to rip them off and make on giant sign that would have all of the show barn sponsors on it. I worked on posters for the fair, livestock weigh in cards, sign in sheets, fair book information, along with so much more. I had no clue what all had to be done to go to fair. Then the Tuesday before fair started I helped the Homemakers move all of their stuff to the Merchants Building at the fairgrounds and helped them set up and clean the floor with a blower and wash tables. I also helped Alex set up the 4H booth. In July the Farmers Market also started up on Tuesday as well as Saturdays. There were a ton of people that came to it in the afternoon! That Thursday was the 4th of July! And I was happy for a break since I knew what the next week was to instill. Then that Friday and Saturday was the Livestock, Rabbit, and Poultry Club fairground clean-up day! It went pretty fast since there were sooo many people out there, but man was it HOT!! We got the bleachers sprayed off, the arena set up for cattle and goats.
Next was fair week itself, the first couple of days were not terrible. I helped with 4H exhibits check in on Monday night and Tuesday morning. We have several different entries, but not very many in the same categories so everyone did pretty well! After check in on Tuesday we had a judge’s luncheon and then I travelled back with the 4H judge to make sure she had everything and help in any way that I could.
Then I had to come up with some signs to put in the livestock barns that said no animals other than livestock and other important signs. On Tuesday I also helped out with check-in of the rabbit club. On Wednesday we had to get there really early to have the scales set up to weigh all livestock in at 8:00 in the morning. Needless to say it became a long and hot day. But I had tons of fun. After weigh in I came back to the office to put together the show book that we hand out to anyone who wants it in order to write down what placing every person gets. It is encouraged for every livestock member to watch the others. On Wednesday night it was the Market Beef Show, the Breeding Heifer Show, and the Goat show. We had a cookout for ALL 4H club members after the show, and it was a great time. I camped out in the livestock barns with the kids on Wednesday night and that was so much fun. They are so entertaining and all of them say that’s the one part of the fair they look forward to the most. Bright and early on Thursday morning we had the Swine Show and the Sheep Show. Then I had to come back and get the grand and reserve champion posters completed before the Auction, and get the Auction forms complete with the help of Whitney. They set up the market price for each animal and made a handy sheet that goes to each bidder and then the bidder can determine how much they want to bid. Once the Auction was over the Fair was over for us. It was a very long week and personally it became very stressful at times, but I survived my first fair!!! I am so proud of each of the kids and the hard work all of them put into the fair!
Then I had to come up with some signs to put in the livestock barns that said no animals other than livestock and other important signs. On Tuesday I also helped out with check-in of the rabbit club. On Wednesday we had to get there really early to have the scales set up to weigh all livestock in at 8:00 in the morning. Needless to say it became a long and hot day. But I had tons of fun. After weigh in I came back to the office to put together the show book that we hand out to anyone who wants it in order to write down what placing every person gets. It is encouraged for every livestock member to watch the others. On Wednesday night it was the Market Beef Show, the Breeding Heifer Show, and the Goat show. We had a cookout for ALL 4H club members after the show, and it was a great time. I camped out in the livestock barns with the kids on Wednesday night and that was so much fun. They are so entertaining and all of them say that’s the one part of the fair they look forward to the most. Bright and early on Thursday morning we had the Swine Show and the Sheep Show. Then I had to come back and get the grand and reserve champion posters completed before the Auction, and get the Auction forms complete with the help of Whitney. They set up the market price for each animal and made a handy sheet that goes to each bidder and then the bidder can determine how much they want to bid. Once the Auction was over the Fair was over for us. It was a very long week and personally it became very stressful at times, but I survived my first fair!!! I am so proud of each of the kids and the hard work all of them put into the fair!
In total for 4H we had: 87 merchant building entries, 148 poultry, 53 rabbits, 6 market beef, 3 breeding heifers, 10 market goats, 38 market swine, and 10 market lambs.
The auction had 52 kids/animals, and the total auction price above market value was equal to $18,274.24
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