Last week at the George H Henderson Expo 2,342 students from seven school districts brought various species of livestock to be entered in the Angelina County Fair.
For the students preparing entering their animals, the official event was called “validation.” Hogs, goats, steers, sheep, and commercial heifers were brought to the Expo grounds to get an ear tag that determines proof of ownership as these youths feed out their market and breeding animals in preparation for the show in April.
Last week’s “Validation” serves as the official starting point for all exhibitors. Though many have had their projects for weeks, even months, the starting gun has sounded and we are feeding and preparing to exhibit livestock for the show. No new entries or even substitutions of entries are allowed.
Entries for the various divisions saw some changes in participation from the last couple of years. Hog entries, typically around 90 to 100 shot up to 118 exhibitors for the 2017 Fair. Market goat entries fell some from 73 last year to 62 this year.
The steer show seemed to hold steady at 49 entries. This show used to be one of the largest at the Fair decades ago.
Other numbers include commercial heifers with ten entries, 16 lamb entries, 44 boiler entries, 15 horse entries and 36 breeding heifers.
I’ll write more about the feeding and market weights of the different livestock classes in weeks to come. Suffice it to say, there are some very definite target weights that each exhibitor is shooting for on their animal(s).
There are some later entry due dates for the county fair still yet to come. Both breeding and market rabbit entries are due Feb 10. Entries in arts and crafts as well as Family and Consumer Sciences are also due on Feb 10.
Broilers (chickens raised for meat production) will be delivered for pick up by those students who have entered on March 7. That will give them approximately six weeks to raise those day-old chicks to a marketable weight.
In case you’ve not heard, our County Fair will be held April 18-22 this year. Gone are the days of a cold, wet February County Fair. Organizers of the 2017 show are confident that April will bring better weather and many more folks to see the outstanding work exhibited by our county’s youth.
For more information about the Angelina County Fair, the competitions and how to get involved, go to angelinacountyfair.com.
