Westmoreland Fair Without Animals

Okay! We start with a chicken quilt. So animals are inspiration for crafts.

Julia's Blue Ribbon Pina Colada Bread

But there is so much to the fair aside from the animals, unless, of course, you figure where these ingredients came from.

  The 4-H Court of Honor.

Preserved goods,...

And the raw materials below.

 Best of Show Handcraft.

 Recycled crafts

Soybeans 

 Wool being spun and woven.

 Is this a swan or a serpent?

Bear Paw Quilt

 

This really was supposed to be about everything but animals, since there is so much to see at the fair, but it seems that the pictures I chose led me otherwise.

Well a few more animals to come as I catch up on the Westmoreland Fair next time.

 

Westmoreland Fair 2012(More to follow)

Fun and Work

If there was a trophy for goats with personality, I think we all agree at our farm, that Adeline would be a winner. She is always first at the stall door demanding to get out and get the day started. No lingering in the background for her.

Julia has her entered in the Westmoreland Fair again this year, and we hope they can do well again. 

Trixie had been an entry all along, since the day she was born, and was a very big girl until she had a bout of pneumonia about two months ago. We almost lost her, and to save her, started bottle feeding her again. Lucky for us, we have 4-H friends who traded us goat milk so that we could nurse her to health. Of course, now we will have to wean her again, but it was worth the effort. She is not as robust as she was, but passed her fitness vet check and will show at the fair.

Each morning, when she can, Julia helps get the goats out, fed and watered, and helps with any special tasks, like shots, where another pair of hands is helpful.

To get the three goats she is taking ready, she has tried washing off those dirty knees and grooms them at night. With her mother and brother helping she gave all three a major bath yesterday while we had a nice warm day to dry them up. No need to have them catch a cold now.

 There's a lot of fun in all this work.

Today I even LET Julia dump the manure!

Its a bit of a walk up the hill, but I remind her of what a good work out she's getting to keep her in shape for running (yes - she runs races with her dad).

 Jock helps of course!

 Can you see? She's still smiling!

So tomorrow the animals go to the Westmoreland Fair, and a busy nine days begins.

Good Luck Julia, Adeline, Ali and Trixie!

Foodie

We've had quite a few kids here in the past six years, but this little guy is the most oral kid since day one. He is from a fine line of food dominant goats, but he really is into eating already.

The video is from day two, and already he is putting everything in his mouth.

He's just trying to eat everything, standing or in a bowl.

He's put on a bit of weight and if he keeps it up, he'll really fill in that wide chest of his.

Meanwhile, Adeline doesn't look like she kidded in the past week, but for her udder. Some gals have all the luck getting their girlish figures back. She's in great shape.

Looks like she will be in good shape for the fair at this pace.

Putting Our Best Foot Forward

Bingo, one of Twee's triplets born January 9.

 Its time for the kids to look their best to be chosen to compete in this year's agricultural fairs.

4-H participants have been emailing and calling and the visits have begun. They are looking for stocky, square kids that they hope will make good weight gains. 

They also look for a goat that already keeps his tail up and head high.

Britches has grown fast from his February 22 birth

A natural stance doesn't hurt at all.

And attitude!

 Belle, the triplet doeling, may be sold for future breeding purposes.

 Ariel is ready to breed and actually was exposed to Alex, but we need a little more time to see if she is bred. We will keep her Reserve Champion twin Adeline to show again. She also may be bred already.

 Abi is a favorite of mine and has really matured as a yearling.

Here she is behind her twin Ali, who was the 4-H Blue ribbon winner at Westmoreland Fair last August.

I expect most of these goats will find new homes this year as the summer goes on.  We started kidding with 14 goats and had 12 kids - so far. We still are waiting for Saba. We like to reduce our herd by winter for barn purposes, and for our sanity. Going into the winter with a dozen goats would be ideal, but by next year, the count will be up again!

Livestock Camp Part 2 - At Hoffers

Why so serious? These young people are part of the Penn State Extension's 2011 Livestock Camp this weekend at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds, and they are in the butcher shop, learning about an important part of the food production chain. We are at Hoffer's, touring this local meat packing facility. Without the butcher, we would all have to process, harvest - yes -butcher our own meats if we wanted it. Some of the kids are raising a market animal that will go to auction on the last day of whatever fair they are participating in. Today's visit presented a reality that is hard for some on that last fair day. Where would some of you be without hamburgers and hot dogs, steaks and drumsticks? At Hoffers, Mark, the butcher, reminded us that it is all part of the food chain, and there are a lot of people to feed, and we ALL want to eat. Food production is a very large industry to which we all are responsible. A lot of times people joke that their meat comes from the grocery cooler, but we know that the process is not as simple as that.I joined these 4-H and FFA kids on the tour after they were at our farm earlier this morning. Since I was the host/teacher, I couldn't take the photos, so I will present Part 1 when the photos come from one of the visiting adults. All I can say is that it was a real pleasure to have these kids here.
All their families have great kids!LOVED having a school bus at the farm!