Science Project

Brooke's science project made it to science fair. She was very surprised and didn't want to do it but she did. She got honorable mention and a $10 savings bond as her award. She did her project on "How does grooming affect a horses heart rate?" She had to work all 3 horses for 3 minutes then let them rest alone for 1 minute then take their heart rate. She repeated the same thing except instead of the horse resting alone, she groomed the horse. We all thought for sure that grooming would bring the heart rate down but it didn't happen that way for the most part. Some of the times it came down, others it was the same for both. The teacher liked the fact that she posted the many things that could have changed the results such as the cold front that came through, the fact that it was biketober fest (I hate motorcycles and I think the horses do too!), the 101 airplanes that seemed to fly over our house everyday and the horses different personalities. The project was a mojor pain but it turned out very good. Now she has to get a social studies project done by Jan. 9th!

Chicken Day!

The kids had a blast at chicken day! They came home with a few awards so they were happy. Ashlyn got 2nd place in the pee wee division for the dressed up chicken and got 2nd place on her record book in her division. Brooke got a third place for her chicken photo in the intermidiate division and got 2nd in her division on the shill a thon. That is a test of your knowledge of chickens. The top pictures are of the chicken race. Ashlyns little one didnt go anywhere but out the way she came in and Brookes turned around a few times but did finally make it to the end. There were some that just ran like the wind to the end of the tunnels! Fair is over and Im ready for some sleep!!!!

Goat Show

The goat show has been quite the experience! We have never shown goats and know nothing about what they are looking for but both girls did very well for their first time. The goats went in Friday at 2 pm. Everyones pens were not right. Gabby and Bambi got seperated very far apart and Gabby wasn't having any part of that. She couldn't see her baby and she was coming out of the pen. We finally just put them in the same pen to keep them calm. The show was to start at 6 pm but it got moved back to 7pm to try and correct the pen mess that everyone had. It never got fixed. Right before the show started, I went back to help Ashlyn with Gabby because she has a hard time handling her in open spaces. The fair people said I couldn't go back. I explained she is by herself, has never done this and she has no 4-H leader back there to help her. They didn't care and told me I would have security called on me if I went back! (Second time this week I have caused an uproar, I will try to post on that after fair!) I ended up finding Jen, the 4-H leader ,to go back and help her. Ashlyn got 6th in her showmanship class last night and 5th in her dwarf class today. Brooke didn't place last night in showmanship, there were alot of juniors! She got a 5th in dwarf goats today. Bambi was like a cat on a leash last night in the showmanship class, it was so funny. So our goat show is over and chicken day is tomorrow. The fun will now begin!

Sad Chicken

Onzo, the chicken, had to come home from the fair last night. She was one of the chickens that Ashlyn had taken. She has been really depressed and not eating or drinking so I got a call last night to come get her. She is doing well today and eating so she just doesnt like the fair! Ashlyn now has to do the whole chicken day with little Butterscotch chicken. She was upset but I told her that little chicken can run just as fast as the big chicken. She wanted to use Onzo in the chicken race. We are heading back to the fair toniht so the kids can ride some rides. It is the first day that we have nothing going on at fair! The kids start showing agin on Friday.

Gameboards

Ashlyn and Brooke did gameboards for the fair also. The gameboard has two wires that you match each side with and if the anwser is correct a little light lights up. Ashlyn did the eggs and Brooke did the sheep. Ashlyn is a cloverbud which is ages 5-7, she doesnt get to compete for 1st or 2nd and so on. 4-H doesnt want the young ones competing so she just got a participation ribbon. The 4-H agent thought it was so good that she said if Ashlyn was able to compete that she would have gotten best over all gameboard! She said she needs to do it again when she is 8. Brooke ended up getting a blue ribbon and best over all gameboard! The girls are having a good fair so far.

Sheep Show

Brooke showed Lily last night and their were 94 sheep! She did really good. She got 2nd place in her class out of 6 sheep. She still got a blue ribbon because the judge liked her. The boy that won her class has really nice sheep and usually always wins. All of the 1st place sheep got to go back in for grand champion pinning. Who ever wins grand champion, they pull the person that got second in the original class and let them join the class for the reserve champion pinning. The boy from Brookes class won so they called her back in to compete for reserve! She didn't get it but it was so cool that she had the chance to come back. The judge also picks who is coming back for showmanship and he called her back for that. Lily wasn't behaving so well for that class but Brooke did a good job holding on to her.Brooke says now that she wants to go to state fair with her so I guess we will try that with her in the spring!

Chicken Placings!

The chickens got judged and they did pretty well. Brooke's chicken did the best, she got a blue ribbon and then got Reserve Best in Breed. Butterscotch, that is like Brookes, got a red because she doesnt look very well with her molting. Onzo. the buff chicken got red, we knew that was going to happen because she has the wrong color legs. We were going to leave her home but had to substitute her for the other buff chicken because she was molting too bad. Lastly, Taco, she got a blue ribbon in the mixed breed contest. We put her in the mixed breed because we were not sure exactly what she was. Come to find out, she is a commercial rhode island red. They are not pure bred but have their own division in the commercial department. They mix rhode island red and new hampshire chickens to get awesome egg layers and they are the chickens that lay the really nice brown eggs. He said if we would have put her in the commercial section she would have got Best in Breed! The judge was very nice at helping us understand his way of judging and what we can do to improve them. Im still amazed at all the new things I learn about the chickens every year. Our new thing this year will be changing their feed to show bird feed to make their feathers look better. I never knew how to make show bird feed and now I do!!!

Fair Check in

Check in day went well! We got to the fair grounds at noon and left by 7pm. We only took 4 chickens instead of 6 because 2 were looking kind of rough from the molt. Lily seems to be settled in and has many sheep friends! Brooke and Ashlyns picture got a blue ribbon in the poultry photo contest. Brooke also got a third overall for the intermidiate division. Tony took off work to help with fair. We have to go out there 2 times a day to get Lily fed so he is doing the morning run for us while I work and me and the kids go to school!