Paul showing his hog in intermediate showmanship.

Another shot from showmanship

The chicken judge and our rooster

The chicken judge and our second rooster.

Pottawamie County Fair thus far

Well, I have to say the Fair has been both interesting and exhausting. Thursday, we checked the chickens and the swine into the fair - another member of our club and I ended up helping a lot with the check-in of the chickens. Ended up staying at the fair until around 8 p.m. On Friday, we got there early and the day also included my helping the judge and the poultry supervisor during the judging, and then we all worked in the 4-H concession stand until 8 p.m. and then Mike and I came home, and Paul stayed with a friend and his family. We came prepared because Paul had showmanship at 8 a.m. today, and thanks to his good friend, Wyatt, he was up and ready and when Mike and I arrived at 7:30 this morning, he was ready for the showmanship!

My nervousness about a pending disaster were unfounded - Paul did quite well for someone new to the ring, and in intermediate showmanship, he even ended up being one of the six held for a final round. He didn't win, but I'm still proud of him. He was the only one in the first class of the day, a breeding gilt class, and he ended up with a blue and a champion ribbon. Now, the judge did not have to award that level - he could have just given a blue or a red. In all he has two blues and a red in addition to the champion blue.

With the chickens, we ended up with an Australorp (a black bird) that won the Grand Champion in the young birds. Our rooster that we're so enamoured of, has a fault with his comb, and should have been disqualified, but took a red. The judge said that otherwise, he's a great bird. Our other rooster that we like so well didn't place well (second in the open class) because he has too many black feathers in his tail for a Buff Orphington. We had three pens of three dual purpose chickens that got a blue and one in open that didn't place. I was the only entry in two of the dual purpose chicken categories, and he gave a blue and championship to both of those. Again, the judge can give any award he thinks the chickens deserve. Overall, it turned out OK.

There's talk of doing a chicken project with me as the leader for the 4-H club. It's just a couple of extra meetings. I think it would be very helpful and what I would do is bring in real experts on this whole business.

All in all, so far ... so good.