Fairadise Monday

The Monday of fair was livestock check-in day, Horticulture Judging and chicken washing.  

We were up at at it early in the morning since Poultry Check-in was at 9am.  We loaded Flare into the trailer and then we loaded our chickens into various borrowed pet carriers and put them in the trailer.  The show boxes were already loaded and ready to go.  

We unloaded the chickens and got them checked in.  

Bottle Calf Check-In wasn't until the afternoon, but we went ahead and put Flare in her pen.  She was thrilled (notice the two pushers and the two pullers).  

Horticulture Judging was at 2:00 and Ephraim had three entries:  zucchini, beans and peas.  We had been in the garden earlier in the morning (like 7am early) and picked what we thought would do well.  Then we filled out the goal cards, put them on a paper plate and they were ready.  

Ephraim did well on his three entries and got a blue for each.  

(I'm not sure what happened to these ribbons, but they're small.  They were the size of his peas.  His other exhibit ribbons were "full-sized" but these were mini.)  Regardless of the size of his ribbons, he did well.  

Now, I said in an earlier post that chickens need washed a few days before being shown so that the oil in their feathers has time to replenish itself.  Well, meat birds different than layers in a lot of ways.  They are a dirtier bird and got super soiled just riding to the fair.  This bird is bred to eat a lot, thus they poop a lot.  They were messy. So, we set up our own washing station and washed our three meat birds.  Again, a family affair.

They did not enjoy this bath treatment as much as the one on Saturday.  The weather was cooler and the hydrant water was cold.  

So, to speed up their drying process . . . .

. . . . we used a hair dryer (I don't use it anyway so at least we're getting some use out of it).  Thankfully, they looked a lot nicer after their bath and were dried.  It would pay off in the end.  

Flare, the bottle calf, needed a good rinsing, too.  So that was next on the agenda.  

We got her all set up in a pen filled with nice wood shavings.  Ephraim would be judged during the week on how clean the pen is and if the chores are done timely.

We set up camp in the Poultry barn.  Each day I packed a cooler with snacks, food and water bottles.  I think we only bought one or two meals at the fair.  We were able to take advantage of a couple of free meals sponsored by ag businesses in the county.  

Monday night was the Queen Contest and while we didn't know any of the contestants, we opted to watch it for a while and then head for home.  Tuesday would be a big day for Ephraim with the Poultry Show in the evening.  

Saturday in Fairadise

Saturday, the 12th of July, was exhibit judging at the county fair.  We'd spent the past several weeks getting Ephraim's line-up of projects completed and filling out his goal cards.  For 4th graders now, they go to only one judge for all their projects (as opposed to the system of going to a different judge for each category).  It was a family affair to get all of Ephraim's projects delivered to the judging table.  

I snuck a few photos of Ephraim with the judge. 

And the results are:  

Outstanding 4th Grade Exhibits for his nesting boxes and bean bag toss.  His nesting boxes also got a Red/White/Blue ribbon for being a "High Quality, Low Cost" item. 

He also got Outstanding 4th Grade Exhibits for his Rabbit Treats display and his Case IH nail art (which we did successfully get copyright permission from Case IH lawyers to show it at the fair).  

A close-up look of his Case IH nail art.  

The chicken nesting boxes.  

His rabbit treats poster also got a Red/White/blue ribbon.  

 Ephraim's other projects got a blue ribbon.  They were a barometer, a perpetual calendar made at VBS, his matchstick cross from VBS and two of his artwork pieces from art class.

The morning judging wasn't all about Ephraim, though.  Emmet and the girls could bring up to 5 exhibits for the Clover Kids booth.  Here they are being judged and getting a participation ribbon.  

Emmet brought a couple of VBS crafts.  

Eliza brought a horse coloring picture, a horse from toilet paper tubes, her marshmallow shooter and a cross craft from camp.  

Eden brought her barometer, her calendar from VBS and her Joy painting from camp.  

Here you can see the the shelf with their projects displayed.  

In addition to all the judging, we also had some decorating to do.  Decorating of our club's exhibit booth and our livestock areas.  We were glad to have Seth around to help with some decorating of the booth, helping to hang banners in the livestock barns and figuring out how to hang our pendants.  

Our finished booth.  You are judged on how well you decorate it according to the theme of the fair each year.  The theme this year was "Fairadise."  

With our judging and decorating responsibilities done at the fair we needed to be home, getting our calf and chickens ready for their fair week.  For the chickens, this meant bath time!  Again, it was a family affair with everyone helping out.  Chickens need to be bathed a couple days before their show so that the oil in their feathers has time to replenish itself.  

We only gave a bath to the ones we knew we would be bringing to the fair.  Washing 10 birds is a lot better than washing 50+!  The chickens didn't really mind their spa treatment :)

And that, my friends was our first day of the fair--busy with projects, decorating and getting our animals ready for their big week.  

Fair Prep

Here is the first of many county fair posts ;)

There is lots to do to get ready for the county fair. 

Birds must be tested for Pollorum so a couple weeks before fair we make a trip to get them blood tested.  

Animals need to be groomed and cared for on a daily basis.  With Ephraim's bottle calf, we've had it on the halter nearly every day since it was born.  Ephraim would not be judged on the appearance of his calf this year, but it is a good way to build a relationship between the caretaker and the animal.  It's also a good way to pay attention to your animal and notice any illness or injury.  

Projects need finished (or maybe even started).  Here Ephraim is building some chicken nesting boxes with a board and some kitty litter boxes from my sister.

The finished product! 

Taking the bottle calf for a walk.  

Making rabbit treats for a poster display.  

Painting his bean bag toss boards.  

We made a pendant banner to hang over our calf pen and our chicken cages.  They needed painted to say "Flare" and "Van Zante."  

Oh, washing those lovely chickens!  The broilers are a messier bird than our egg-layer chickens.  They need washed so their feathers and feet look clean for the judge.  We had several pans of washing stations and everyone helped.  

Getting the show box ready.  This show box was Seth's and Paul's box in 4H.  We painted over Paul's name and maybe next year we'll touch it up a bit but for this year, just a new coat of paint.  We used this show box for the chicken supplies and then we were lucky enough to buy a used aluminum show box from a friend whose children are done in 4H.  We also got a "box full" of brushes, ropes and show ring paraphernalia.  

Gotta fill out those goal cards, even the Clover Kids.  

Making our own Flock Block for the chickens.  This is a recipe I found online with a nice mix of chicken feed, oats, applesauce, molasses, eggs and egg shells (a little weird mixing something with the eggs and the shells, but they're good for the birds).  

There was some blood, sweat and tears through this whole process but the end result would be SOOOO worth it.  We worked hard those weeks prior to the fair to get our animals, projects and paperwork ready.  

Farmin' on the 4th of July

Holiday or not, we spent the better part of the 3rd and 4th putting up oats for winter-time cattle feed.  It is a process that requires several days of dry weather prior to mowing the oats and then at least two days of dry weather so that the oats can be chopped and bagged.  We've had some severe thunderstorms with wind that was starting to knock the oats down, so it was time to get the oats mowed.  The 3rd didn't really start out as a good day for us.  Seth noticed a cow in the pasture having a calf . . . backwards.  Not a good situation.  Eventually, after a little rodeo, a lasso snapping, a cow choking, a cow being resuscitated, a calf being pulled with chains, it ended.  The calf lived for a short time and then died.  Thankfully, the mama survived the whole ordeal.  But it got our morning off to a rough start.

Here are some pictures:

We delivered meals to the guys in the field.  

The boys took turns riding with the tractor drivers, either Seth, his uncle Loren or cousin Josh.  

Eliza was exited to get some fishing done while the oats were being chopped.  

Both girls got pretty good at casting their lines.  

The tractor is pulling the chopper.  It picks up the mowed oats and chops it into bits while blowing it into the silage wagon behind it.  One of the boys is on the red 4-wheeler, probably waiting for his turn to ride in the tractor.  

The boys enjoyed racing around on the 4-wheelers when they weren't helping out.  

The wagon on the left is unloading the chopped oats into a silage bag (behind the tractor on the right).  We filled a 200 foot bag!

Ephraim switching out with Eliza.  

Eden got to drive the pickup with me a couple times.  She was thrilled!  More often than not, it was just her hands on the steering wheel.  

The girls and I took some 4-wheeler rides through the fields to pass the time (and maybe "race" with the boys).  

Oops, looks like Eliza fell asleep during her ride.  

Here you can see that the oats are mowed into windrows and that is what the chopper picks up.  

Ephraim with his toy chopper, tractors and wagons.  Only he was playing with the red variety--Case IH.  

Surprise of all surprises . . . Eliza caught a fish!  I had secretly been hoping that they wouldn't catch anything.  Mostly because I am not skilled at removing the hook from a poor fish's mouth.  

That's a nice sized one, too.  Thankfully, the hook was easy to remove.  Emmet looks pretty proud of his sister.  We threw the fish back into the pond to live another day.  

Here's a closer look at how the wagon unloads.  It unloads and then stuffs a heavy-duty bag full (that's a simplified explanation) of the yummy silage for the cattle to eat this winter. 

Seth's parents helped out on the 3rd and then my parents came on the 4th to help out for a couple hours.  The children enjoyed playing with cousins Caleb & Sarah on the 3rd for a bit, too.    We enjoyed a visit from Seth's Uncle Randy and Aunt Beth on the 4th to check out the action.  Lots to see, but also lots to do.  

That was our 3rd and 4th of July.  The kids and I were able to take in some fireworks in Otley with my family on the 3rd while Seth finished up in the field.  On the 4th, we were busy in the field but that's okay.  This had to be done and we enjoyed our time in the field.  

"Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense."  Proverbs 12: 11