Fair is over and schools a coming!

 Wow fair went by so fast this year.  Beef show day was soooooo busy.  We started with feeder showmanship at noon and didn't stop for long until after the grand drive.

Sprout won light weight feeder calf and intermediate feeder calf showmanship.  She was confident and ready for the day.   In the break between the feeder and steer show she got called to the arena and won rate of gain.  This is how much the steer gains between spring tag in/weigh in and the weigh in at the fair.  There is some money for this one.  She's won it twice in 5 years.  Then she got a break since dairy steers were really late in the schedule.  My nephew and his wife were visiting for the day and they took her for ice cream and to see things around the fair.

Her dairy steer looked good.  He was a little jumpy in the air conditioned arena, but Sprout handled him wonderfully.  She just kept setting him back up and was calm and collected.  There aren't many that show dairy beef in our county so the competition wasn't huge but she showed very well.  Her only problem was she glanced over at her dad during beef showmanship because someone else was having a problem with their animal and she was nervous.  The judge caught her and that was just enough to eliminate her.  Competition is tough and she knows it.  At least this year her steer was totally under control.  The last time she did beef showmanship there was a heifer in heat next to her steer and he got away from her and drug her a bit.  It was scary for this momma, but not this year.  She was on it and had total control.  We've decided to have a different trainer for showmanship next year.  She needs to move to the next level and a few sessions to perfect things will go a long way.  She's come a long way since the beginning, but she's out paced us on her training.

 

Sheep were so so this year.  She didn't spend nearly as much time with them as the cattle and it showed.  It is a learning experience to get all of her livestock to the same level.  I'll be there to direct more next year so we just chalk it up to a learning experience and keep moving.

I don't have a good pig picture, but they were also not quite where we want them to be.  I think we need to look at the feed more next year and she and I can work on what we think we need to do over the winter.  Plus we bought a treadmill that we can walk sheep and pigs on.  That will help with their muscle development next year.  It's hard to have time to walk everyone for as long as they need so the treadmill will help.

All in all it was a good fair.  We can't complain about 3 plaques.

Sprout gets a bit of a breather, but cheer practice starts on August 2nd and school on August 10th.  She misses her friends so I think she is ready to go back just for the social aspect.  Over the summer I got a new sports bag for her that is big and water proof so that she can use it for cheer and swimming.  She was finding having the school backpack and a backpack for sports too hard to get on the bus.  Now she has a duffle and a backpack and it should be easier to navigate the bus aisles. 

Where did the summer actually go?  I can't believe it's almost August.  I really need for time to slow down.

Fair is almost here

 Our fair is almost here and as usual we aren't ready.  It's supposed to be really rainy for the first part of our fair and this is totally not the normal.  I'm trying to plan for this.  I bought a new canopy since our old one has loads of tiny holes.  It is several years old and well used.  We always put down a cheap outdoor rug over the gravel so shoes can be taken off and everyone can relax, but I am rethinking that decision.  Where our stall is can be in the flood zone, but the rug I'm thinking of using has a rubber backing.  I'm hoping it will float and not have water run across it if I take it.  I'm taking only enough chairs for Sprout, FarmBoy, me and maybe the trainer.  Sprout often strings up a hammock, but that won't be happening this year.  I usually take a cot, but that may be later in the week for sheep or swine when the weather is supposed to be better.

In the past I have not anchored the canopy down, but this year we will be for the first few days of the fair.  After the beef show we move locations closer to the sheep barn.  The intercoms to call the classes don't extend much past the barn that is showing so we need to be close to each barn on the day of show so it makes us have to move during the week.  The rain could also cause this to be an issue.  It's just a wait and see situation at this point.  

I have a plan for food, but again with the rain it could change.  I usually run power cords to power the crockpots, but I might not be able to this year so I might need to change up the menu some.  Here is the current menu:

1. Chicken tacos

2. Smoked pork

3. Ham salad

4. Lunch meat sandwiches

I always have fruit, cheese sticks, and chips running around.  Goldfish crackers and cookies sometimes make the list too.  Bottled water, body armour drinks, and some soda are in the coolers too.  

We went shopping over the weekend to get some new clothes for Sprout.  She has really grown since last year.  I think we have enough so I don't have to do laundry, but the weather could change that too.    Her boots from last year still fit so we are good on footwear.  she got a new pair of bogs that are special edition 4H to wear in the barns for cleaning pens etc.  

Now to what is not ready.  Sheep.... today I hate shaving sheep.  No one cleaned the clippers after last year's fair and no one shaved the sheep yet this year.  We should have, but every time I got ready to something came up and it didn't happen.  Totally a bad thing for her project, but it is what it is at this point.  I hoping the rain today will be over by the time I get home so we can get the sheep rough cut.   They have to be done for check in on Friday so I have a few days, but it's coming fast.  Thank goodness I got the house mostly cleaned this weekend so I'm not trying to do it all this week.  Sheep are the first to go in on Friday and then the beef.  I took the day off for this since FarmBoy is on nights through Thursday night.  So he will come off on Friday morning and then we start the load in.  He's going to be a bit crabby so I need to be more intentional on keeping things calm and smooth.

Say a prayer I can get through it.