Feathers 'n' fur

GIRARD — Silver martens, Netherlands dwarfs, Blue Andalusians and Dominiques, along with their young owners, filled the rabbit/poultry barn Wednesday at the Crawford County Fairgrounds.

The martens and dwarfs are rabbits, while the others are fancy fowl. All of them were troubled by the heat, but steps were taken to try and keep the barn cooled off.

“Home Depot  donated three fans, and that’s helped a lot,” said Tori Bastion, a superintendent for the poultry portion of the barn. “We’ll be keeping the fans on 24/7. We’re also being more vigilant about getting people to keep checking on their birds. Last year we lost a few from heat prostration.  

She also made sure that the birds had plenty of cool water.

“We freeze pop bottles that are half full of water, then fill them the rest of the way with regular water,” Bastion said. “The ice slowly melts and keeps the water cool.”
Along with their poultry feed, the birds also got treats of cold fruits and vegetables.

Rabbits have their own issues with heat.

“Rabbits can only cool themselves through their ears,” noted Ann Egbert, whose children raise and show the critters. “At home we’ve been spraying them and giving them cups of water instead of their drip bottles.”

The rabbits were judged Wednesday by Tex Thomas, Marionville, Mo., internationally known rabbit expert who has been coming to the fair for at least the past 15 years.
There was judging for best of breed and showmanship honors.

In best of breed, the winners were Austin Egbert, best mini rex; Allison Hibdon, best mini lop; Kaitlyn Nepote, best chinchilla rabbit; Mitchell Murphy, best New Zealand; and Cormick Logue, best Netherlands dwarf.

Best overall was Kaitlyn Nepote and her chinchilla rabbit, with Austin Egbert as reserve champion.

In the showmanship category, the order was reversed, with Egbert the senior showmanship champion and Nepote the reserve champion.

“There are so few of us that every year it’s like,  ‘Which of us will be grand champion and which will be reserve’,” Egbert said.

Other rabbit showmanship winners were: Intermediate, Cailie Logue, champion, and Layne Karhoff, reserve champion; and junior, Cormick Logue, champion, and Allison Hibdon, reserve champion.

The Logue siblings also took honors for the best pen of meat rabbits, with Cailie as champion and Cormick as reserve.

After the competition, Cormick, who has been showing rabbits for three years, said that he gets a little nervous, but had some good advice for 4-H’ers competing in showmanship.

“You should work through it before you come here so you’re ready for it,” he said.

Poultry judging will begin at 9 a.m. today. There are 65 entries of 76 birds in the 4-H category, according to Bastion. Among them are some rare breeds belonging to Anna Cicero, who is in her second year of showing poultry.

“Our thing is to go for the heritage breeds,” she said. “Those are ones that have been around for centuries. They’re more rare, more pretty and if you want to sell them, they sell for more.”

Among her breeds are Blue Andalusians, represented by a hen and Houdini, who sports a stunning red cockscomb and wattles.

“They’re still trying to find out the history of the Blue Andalusians,” Cicero said. “Not many people have them.”

Among her other breeds are Dominique or pilgrim fowl, which originated in America during the colonial period, and Ameraucana.

“They’re all more for show than for meat,” Cicero said.

However, this year there is a meat pen entry for poultry and rabbits that will be eligible for the livestock auction.

“Other counties have been doing this for years,” said Penny Grotheer, rabbit superintendent. “This allows 4-H’ers who don’t raise cows or other larger animals to participate in the auction and get some money.”