Went to the Colorado State Fair yesterday.

[corancher]

The birds I saw were in the open class area I believe, however I do not know the different classes so it's possible the 4-H birds were there also.

I went this year in order to see what types of birds were at the fair and was toying with entering next year. I just thought I would see these lovely birds that I would just drool over and that was not the case at all.

I do agree that it looks like we need more of us that know about the various breeds to step up to the plate and help, otherwise I am concerned that the fairs that many of us have fond memories of will soon be a thing of the past.

Now, I just need to make the time somehow to see where I can help.

Please continue to post about your State Fairs this is all interesting information.

Katy - as a side note. The beef cattle, swine, dairy cattle, sheep were also way down in participation, however the ones there were there were pretty nice animals.

 

[FrizzleFreak]

You should come ot the Oregon State Fair! We had such lovely birds last year-even some Golden Red and Lady Amherst pheasants! There was of course the army of cochins, sebrights, wyandottes, OEGB, and modern games to be expected, but there were a few rarer breeds as well, that looked to be of very high quality.
The 4-H portion wasn't as exciting, but there was one beautiful Silver Phoenix hen that I drooled over for a while...I actually met her owner on BYC afterwards!

 

[call ducks]

I believe it is up to us to serve some of the birds that are now common in America and Canada and sometime in the near future I see them becoming like other breeds almost extinct that is what heritage we should be not actually like production but heritage quality and that is fitting the stand that were created around the heritage quality and we don't know. We may never have them as good as they once were. Take the Rhode Island red for an example still have here teach Rhode Island Reds but most of the Rhode Island Reds, we see today I believe are production Rhode Island Reds. And barred rock is another example of it. Although there are some fairs to out there that have good show quality birds show. I believe the fairs. I strongly believe in breeding to the standard of a bird and trying to get as close to the standard as possible. I believe we do not take action now that the birds that we see now may be even harder to come by and say 10 or 15 years with the breeds that are common now. But on the flip side, that breeds that are rare now may be more common than.

That's just my two cents

Call ducks

 

[Wifezilla]

corancher, I say we enter next year and win all the ribbons....Bwaa haa haa!!!!

(My Welsh Harlequin drake is from Holdereads. He would CLEAN UP!!!)

 

[call ducks]

Quote:
go for wifezilla entry that fair. The teacher show thos people at the fair . What good show quality ducks are all about

 

[Amyable]

I'm willing to bet that the decrease in animal showing at fairs has a lot to do with the NAIS. Some fairs are requiring premesis ID's to show animals. Those who don't want to comply just don't participate.

 

[Cats Critters]

My county fair has No poultry being shown, last two years they have hatched a couple chicks in the kids barn though (this year putting the 3 chicks on newspaper and they where in bad shape

)

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
Depends if the judges knew what they were doing as well. LOL

 

[corancher]

Amyable wrote:
(I'm willing to bet that the decrease in animal showing at fairs has a lot to do with the NAIS. Some fairs are requiring premesis ID's to show animals. Those who don't want to comply just don't participate.)


amyable I wondered about that also and it will be a determining factor if I decide to put birds in next year.

Wifezilla

I am sure you would win with the Welsh Harlequin. There was only a couple of Pekins, a few Blue Swedish, one very nice Rouen male with a first place ribbon (they got this one right), and some call ducks. The Rouen had a price of $50.00 on him and he was nice enough to consider.

Wolf-Kim

You are right about the judges, however with so few entries they may not have even had to judge. Three ribbons and three or less entries in a catagory. They would not have had to judge too much.

 

[Wifezilla]

Well here's the problem....

"2009 POULTRY Health Requirements and Examination : All entrants for livestock exhibited in open, breed, or market competitions shall provide either a Premises Registration Number or an NPIP (National Poultry Improvement Plan) Flock Registration number on the entry form. Colorado continues to work toward achieving Pullorum/Typhoid Clean State Status through the National Poultry Improvement Plan. All poultry (chickens and turkeys) entered in Colorado State Fair shows are highly recommended to be tested for Pullorum/Typhoid (a Salmonella bacterial disease). Veterinarians and veterinary students from Colorado State University and participants of the Colorado Poultry Health Board will be on site at the Colorado State Fair during poultry
check-in to test any non-tested chickens and turkeys. Samples for testing are collected by taking a small blood sample from the bird (through a small prick to the wing vein). The test can be run
immediately at the site where the samples are collected. For testing of birds prior to attending the fair, phone the Colorado Avian Disease Surveillance Program at 970-297-4109. All testing is free of charge. Any birds tested prior to attending the State Fair will not need to be re-tested at the fair. In addition, the Colorado Avian Disease Surveillance Program (CADSP) will be at Poultry Check-in on Friday and Saturday, August 28-29, 2009 from 8am-8pm. They will be collecting
samples for avian influenza virus testing."

Found it in the PDF you download if you want to enter.

http://www.coloradostatefair.com/uploads///2009 Small Animal/01-09 SA Poultry Open 081809.pdf

So that "Improvement Plan" is working about as well as you would expect a gvmnt run program to work!!!