Published: July 27, 2018
Gone to the birds: Kids show off their poultry-raising
skills at the fair
By Nicholas Dettmann
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
TOWN OF POLK — A stroll through the small
animal barn on the eastern side of Washington County Fair Park will take you
past several cages of chickens, roosters, ducks and pigeons.
On some of those cages will be ribbons or a
trophy to let a passerby know how they did at the 160th Washington County Fair.
Thursday was judging day for the birds at the
fair. To find out who was the top birds in one of several classes or
categories, careful preparation was made by all the participants. And most of
them spend all year prepping the bird for what is a matter of minutes of
judging.
There is a meticulous set of guidelines that
are followed in order to be crowned champion of the Washington County Fair or
any other fair. A book dubbed the Poultry Bible by some volunteers but
officially called “The American Standard of Perfection” is a 396-page book full
of breed pictures and characteristics that defines the perfect bird.
The book, for example, will show a picture of
a chicken and list requirements for feather pattern, feather color, the comb,
the beak, etc.
If one thing is off, that can mean the
difference of leaving the fair with a ribbon or empty-handed.
Haley Meinert, 15, of Cedarburg, who is a
member at Kirchhayn Trotters 4-H Club in Jackson, was champion in the standard
chicken class Thursday.
“It’s very exciting,” she said.
“Every day, you have to make sure they have
fresh food and water,” she added. “Before the fair, we always take them out and
wash them, make sure they’re clean and pretty.”
This is just a small portion of what Meinert
and other bird showers do leading up to the all-important judging.
“I try to handle my birds almost every day,
make sure they don’t have any of the wrong feathers, make sure they’re growing
right,” said Meinert, who will be a sophomore at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High
School this fall.
The birds’ nutrition is an important element
to the showmanship.
“You have to make sure they have food with
enough protein and enough of the minerals they need and nutrition and making
sure they have fresh clean water,” said Sam Chapman, 15, of Germantown, who is
also a member of Kirchhayn Trotters and will be a
sophomore at Germantown High School. On
Thursday, Chapman was the reserve champion in standard chicken behind Meinert.
If the chickens don’t get the proper
nutrition, Chapman said, “they’ll get sick, they might not be the right color,
they’ll be really skinny, boney, their feathers will be ruffled.”
Because of the yearlong effort, there is
plenty of pride that goes into showing the animals, big or small.
“You feel accomplished, like you’ve done what
you needed to do for the chickens,” Chapman said.
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