I need your 'secrets' :) for 4-H meaties

[Pathfinders]

OH EM GEE.

Those prices are ridiculous! The most I've ever heard of a meat bird getting here was $800 and that was my daughter's bird, total fluke (and no I did NOT bid.) It was the very last item in the livestock auction and there were two banks who had money left to spend and who bid each other up. Normally birds go for between $150 and $300.

Two thousand dollars, man oh man...

 

[seymojo536]

And I thought we had a supportive group here at the fair. Very nice prices for those birds.

But it does raise a question with me.
Are you 4H kids allowed to sell more than one animal at the auction?

If they can only sell one animal then I would say they are being compensated very well for their efforts. Most kids around here will take 2 or 3 projects, but can only sell one and the buyers understand this and do bump the prices up. Our champions get similar money but our average for the rest of the classes is usually around 300 - 350. Everyone was stunned when the GC turkey brought $3,000 last year, double the record.

Now if they can sell more than one then I believe the fix is in on the sale and you'll need to hussle up some support in advance for your kids or be rudely suprised.
We do have business partners and friends of the family that push the price of a few kids critters over and beyond what say a first or second year kid might bring without any backroom deals. But most of the time it is just local businesses that want to support the kids and really don't pay any attention to whose animals they are buying.

Because of the lack of any bell curve to your prices I say see if you can find out how the auction works and if it is on the up and up then just relax and let the kids enjoy the experience. As long as they take good care of the birds, learn some things about life and have fun at the fair showing them, it really doesn't matter what color ribbon they get.

 

[chellebyerly]

okay here are the rules.

1. The sale wil be limited to the top 20 animals in those classes labled "market"

9. Participants are allowed to show & sale one "market" animal, in any 2 seperate divisions. Participants will sell their "market" animals in the gerneral sale if in the top 20 of their division. The sale order will be as the judges place in each division.

11. The judge will place every market animal in each division with the exception of Rabbits and Broilers.



So, if my two kids placed in the top 20 in both Rabbits and BRoilers, they could both auction their animals.
Of course, I could be wrong.


So I guess you can only do any 2- But I am quite sure that some folks enter into more than one division. They might can enter into any they pick (steer, hog, lamb, goat, broilers, and rabbits) but can only sell in 2.

 

[twentynine]

Are you raising the birds?

Or

Are the kids raising the birds?


Just wondering it being a 4H project and such.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Holy cow, you must be at a HUGE fair. I got champion, and I only got $80.00 a bird, and that was a pen of 3. Most go for between 30 and 50 a bird, but everyone is allowed to sell, and sell all three birds in their pen, be broilers, roasters, or cornish.

I was told by a wise old farmer; feed Purina Show Bird, and they will do well. We fed that one year, and got 1st place broiler, and Grand Market Pen Champion.

Maybe, if we follow the same protocol on this page, we might win this year again!

(Do you wash your birds before you go to fair, and auction? The judges will sometimes break a tie between clean and dirty birds)

 

[chellebyerly]

twentynine- I am a firm beliver in my children having responsibility.
My kids get up at 5:30 in the morning to feed our livestock, They then catch the bus at 6:15. they get home about 10-15 after 5pm. feeding everything, in the rain, heat or whatever. THEN they do their homework. The oldest 3 only. If the baby wants to sleep in he is more than welcome to. But he does help to feed in the evenings. But even the 5 year old helps to feed during both feedings.

They help to butcher what we kill, they help to bury what dies, they help to birth what needs help. When we plant a garden, they are beside me. they help to can, they help in every way possible.

My kids are 11, 9, 5 and 2. Which means they are not allowed to drive to the feedstore, they do not have the money avalible to purchase everything needed at this point. (although, if they do sell, they will save what needs saving for next years animals, put the rest in the bank and get 5% for their work to spend as they see fit.). They DID get the birds as a birthday present, and the rabbits for another birthday present. And got the wire and hammer and staples for Christmas to build the coop. They will help us. But as their age shows, they will not be in charge of the table saw, skill saw or deciding how it should be built. Those things will be up to their father and I. But just like our hog pens, chicken coop, rabbit hutches, they will participate in the building of the structures to the best of their ability. Right down to the 2 year old, who is quite proficiant at holding nails, screws, drills, levels or any other items we ask him to hold.

Being as they are all minors, they also dont have the internet, nor do they have a computer, and aside from that, are not allowed to sign up on message boards, websites etc. per my rules and usually the owner of the boards.

They also go to school, (as we have discussed earlier) for pert near 11 hours a day.

With ALL of this in mind. Then yes- I will be deciding what to feed the birds, I will be deciding where to buy it, I will be driving to get it (although, they will get a wheel barrow and ferry it down to the pens the 500 feet that it has to go), I will be looking after the birds during the day when they are in school, and being the loving mother I am, I more than likely will not make them get up in the middle of the night too often on a school night to wake the birds up if it comes to that. (unless the job I applied for comes to pass, then I wont be home nights, I will be working so I can be home during the day for them and their little brother). they will have spread sheets that we have worked up, noting each birds number, showing weight gained, showing food spent, showing $ per pound that went in. They will no doubt need my help with this, (as they are 4th and 5th grade) but will learn from it.

SO, am I raising the birds or are my children?




Whiteconfections, according to last years newspaper article, there were close to 200 entries. we are a fairly small county. Not sure of the populace here, but I think its around 10,000. But many business' do use this as their 'contribution' for the year. They know the kids use the money for scholorships, (which is why mine are becoming involoved) and there are some rich folks here. LOL

some folks do buy their own kids stuff, but more times than not, its someone else who buys the animals. and alot of people buy the steers, hogs, etc, for a 'contribution' and for their own freezer. They know they are paying more per pound than at the store, but it went to a good cause.

I am not sure of the washings.. I think we will 'clean' them up. baby wipes or something.. LOL I am hopeing to keep them as clean as possible, simply because I dont want to give them a heartattack. LOL be just my luck I have 3 beautiful birds, the kids hear me say "time to clean the birds" go out and give them a dousing with the hose. ROFLMAO!!

Honestly, I dont know how you go about cleaning a chicken. I reckon its not the same as givin a pig a buttermilk bath huh?? LOL

 

[one66stang]

I read through here every now and then and came here today looking for the same info your looking for. Our problem here is we just dont have that many people showing broilers on top of the secret keepers. We have been through this with every 4-H animal we have shown so we are used to it.

We showed last year as our first year and won Grand Champion bringing $1250 for the pen.

We bought 18 birds for one pen.

Our winning birds weighed in at 8 weeks at 9# 14oz,9# 15oz and 10# 2oz.

We went by the A&M sheet that if you have done any searching for this info on Google you have read it 50 different ways but if you have not here is a link.
http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/library/files/broilers_roasters_for_show.pdf

We fed a 30% feed until 4 weeks. Switching to a 22% finisher . We did add a drizzle of Wheat germ oil in the morning and evening the last 2 weeks. We used a supplement of Winners Edge as per directions.

Full Feed and Full Fresh Water every day. Full Light and stirring the birds as much as we could. ( we did not do this at night ).

Be sure and mover the feeders and waters up as they grow.

We did not cull last year.

This year we started with 50 birds for 2 pens.

We culled at 4 weeks, I picked a random 15 birds and weighed them and averaged the weight. The overs went in one side of the pen the unders in the other side. Leaving 23 keepers.

At 6 weeks we culled again pulling the keepers down to 14 birds. I dont think we will cull again. These keepers are between 4.5 - 5#s at 6 weeks. Since our record keeping was poor last year I`m not sure if we our on track to have birds as big as last years but I know the birds our healthier this year.

You are going to loose birds do to "heart attacks". Dont let that discourage you.

As you my 10yo boy takes care of all his 4-H project mostly by himself. I try to lead him in the the right direction.

All I ask is if you use any of this info to help your project and it helps your project out is Please dont be one of the secret keepers that spoils the experience for the kids and in the end thats what its all about.

any questions you have that i can try and help you with feel free to email me.

"username"@gmail.com

 

[chellebyerly]

one66stang, OHhh Thank you !

and dont worry, I'm the type of person that will put the recipe on my blog, I'll print it out and give it to the extension agent to give out, I'll give it to anyone who asks. LOL Actually more than likely, I'll give to folks who DONT ask! LOL

why did you cull out the heavier ones? (unless y'all have a weight limit- cause we dont. heaviest is bestest I guess... )

and your right, I've read the A&M thing, but I guess I'm just too dense to 'get' it from it. LOL I need normal folks to tell me. LOL

where did you get a 30%? what is it? cause anything I need I'll have to get the feedstore to order for me.


Did you start one day olds on 30% or wait a week or so?

wheat germ oil? Like wheat germ you buy at the store to put on your eggs? (I think thats what my grandmother did with it... it always looked and tasted like cracked up acorns to me I never ate any.) LOL

Thanks again!

and I'm glad I'm not the only one that is dealing with this stupidity in 4-H. I understand competition and all but dang!

heck this year they are having to do 'rabbit checks' to make sure the babies are being raised on YOUR place. cause so many folks go out and buy a meat pen the week of the show...

 

[WingingIt]

OK, I'm back with a question, too. I hope it's OK that I mini-hijack the thread for a minute. How dirty do they normally get before the fair? These things are on tons of shavings and we stir the shavings and clean out the nasty stuff and add more and their hind ends are still, um,

The bigggest must have laid down right after he pooped, because he's got it under his right wing, too. I'm thinking baby wipes like another poster said, but I'm wondering how much worse this is going to get. We were told NOT to clean them, but, really????? I can't imagine a judge wanting to see tons of nasty chicken butts.

 

[terri9630]

We just used a damp wash cloth to clean our birds. We don't have the fierce competiton here for chickens/ rabbits but people are paying over $5,000 for a "cheap" show steer. I just don't get that. We used to just go out in the pasture and pick the one we liked and hauled it up to the barn. At our fair not all the animals show. It's based on the number of enteries. This year only the grand turkey, grand rabbit and grand chicken sold. (from the small animal barn) I talked to the chicken judge and told her it was our first year for chickens and asked her what she looked for. She said the chickens should be fast broilers, about 8wks old and hens. She said a hen will beat a roo 9 times out of 10. She also said when judging turkeys she has yet to find a tom that was better than a hen at any show she had judged.