It takes me a while to decompress after fair. It's always such a whirlwind, and so different than daily life. Not a vacation, by any means, but definitely a departure from the regular monotony.
It actually started BEFORE the fair, when Brisket was a finalist for the Royal Critter contest. He didn't get selected, but we were glad the judges got to meet him and all his puppydog coolness!
Our fair week started with barn set up, as it usually does. We actually had a shift in the Dairy Bar that morning, which was really slow, since there wasn't much livestock at the fair. Then we got the joy of setting up her cattle trim chute, and her clipping stalls for the goats and sheep. We brought in our chicken feed, hay, halters, and all sorts of gear to be ready for the week.
Tuesday was livestock check in - with poultry from 7-9AM and all our 4-legged critters starting at 9. Her showmanship bird, Yin, got sent home with mites. Sigh. All her market animals made weight, though her sheep and goat just barely did. That afternoon was poultry showmanship, and she used Sunset Shimmer, her Dutch Bantam. This meant she was studying last minute to learn details of the breed. She took 4th in Showmanship, which did not qualify her for Small Animal Round Robin.
Wednesday, she had her market and breeding goat show. She started off taking 2nd place in showmanship with Luna - which put her into large animal Round Robin! Luna and Jupiter didn't fare very well in their shows. Shannon is up against some very seasoned exhibitors, and this was her first time showing sheep.
Thursday morning started off with the sheep show. Sparkles, who has been at fair plenty of times, decided she did NOT want to walk in the ring. She placed low in showmanship, which was a bummer after taking second place last year. She is now a senior, and the competition is tough! SParkles took last in her breeding class, and Jewel was the only hair sheep in her market class, so she did take first, and Shannon go to go to the grand drive with her.
That night was the Beef show. Magnolia gave her a bit of a hard time in the ring, and I think combined with a not successful sheep show, her confidence was busted. She didn't place well in Showmanship. Her beef steer, Brisket, took last place in his class. Magnolia took second place in her breeding class, but did not move ahead in the grand drive. Ferrix was shown as an exhibition for Catch-a-Calf.
For poultry, most of her birds brought home a ribbon. She had the only quails and the only heritage turkeys, so they took Champion and Reserve. However, he quail took Reserve Grand in All Other Birds (gamebirds and heritage turkeys). I think her Phoenix took Champion in All Other Standard Breeds for chickens. Her pekin drake took Champion in Ducks. And her market chicken pen of pullets too Grand Champion in market chickens. This meant that they qualified for the Market Sale. She also got to take Brisket to the Market Sale. We started taking home gear here, because we couldn't get all the animals home, and it would be hard to load that cattle chute into the truck with a trailer attached!!
The Market sale took up most of Saturday - Champions Row set up and meeting the buyers there. And then waiting for her two turns at the market sale. Selling Brisket at the sale was REALLY hard. I mean, we always knew he was destined to be food - but there was something about him going away in someone else's trailer that was really hard.
Sunday was Product Sale, Poultry Sale and cleanup and checkout. Shannon had eggs at the product sale (next year we need to set them up as a basket!) Shannon sold most of the birds she wanted to sell at the poultry sale. She sold 4 barnyard pullets, her pen of 3 egg production pullets, and one drake. She bought 3 more polish hens, but all in all, she did well with the sale.
We took a load of market turkeys home - they all get butchered on the farm, and I bought many of the ones that didn't sell at the market sale. We took them home, and then came back for the rest. Magnolia got a ride home with Love Affair, a related heifer. We managed to squeeze all our chickens, 2 goats, 2 sheep and Ferrix into our trailer for a final trip home. We stuck around to see Brisket off, and almost missed him pulling away in his trailer. Shannon and I both cried Saturday after the sale, and Sunday while he left. John had to ask the girls to get off the trailer, so he could take the market beef home. Brisket is in there! I miss that big lug.
That's a wrap, folks! She is trying to find more Dutch Bantams for next year, we are searching for a market steer and a breeding heifer, and she wants to try to breed Luna for a dam and doe class for next year. She may retire Sparkles and consider showing Jewel as her breeding ewe next year. Let's see how it goes! Next big event is Catch-a-Calf at National Western Stock Show!
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