Youths sacrifice time, energy to raise livestock for fair

Tesia Adermann said the biggest sacrifice she has to make to raise livestock for the Curry County fair is giving up time in the summer to care for the animals.

Courtesy photo: Brenda Allen

Lynnae Allen, right, holds her lamb while a judge checks it for proper condition, muscle tone and body structure in the show ring at the 2011 Curry County fair. Lynnae won senior showmanship for showing this lamb.

"You don't have as much time with your friends to hang out," Adermann said. But there is also an upside.

"The most rewarding part is if you get first or second place," said Adermann, "and you know that you've accomplished something and achieved something you probably didn't think you could."

Adermann, 14, grew up on a ranch in Idaho and moved to Curry County in 2008. She raises chickens and pigs on her family's ranch in Grady and is entering chickens into the county's 92nd annual fair this week.

The fair starts Tuesday. Activities such as livestock shows start between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Adermann is entering livestock into the fair for the fifth time this year.

According to Adermann, a typical day on the ranch requires waking up at six in the morning to feed the animals before completing daily chores. Adermann said she feeds the animals again at six in the evening.

"If you have a steer it takes about a half hour, maybe 45 minutes cause you have to stir up all the steer feed," Adermann said.

"With the chickens you just have to pour a bucket of scraps. Chickens eat just about anything. You can throw watermelon at them; they'll eat that."

Adermann started preparing her chickens in July for this year's fair by feeding the chickens a little extra food. Adermann said contestants must be careful not to overfeed their chickens or they could be disqualified for entering an overweight bird.

She said a chicken has to weigh five pounds or less. Adermann also washes her chickens with dish soap and water at least twice a week.

She said another downside of raising livestock for the county fair is purchasing expensive feed. She said her livestock requires a lot of feed such as corn, cotton and sweet peas. But another positive is learning to be responsible at a young age.

Lynnae Allen, 15, will show lambs and dairy heifers at the fair. Allen has entered livestock in the fair since 2007 and has received several awards for her showmanship.

According to Allen:

• In 2011 she received senior showmanship for sheep.
• In 2010 she received showmanship for goats.
• In 2010 she received showmanship for steer.

"Showing animals is something that I've always enjoyed doing and we (her family) can do it as a family; we have land," Allen said.

"I have enjoyed being around the animals since I was a little kid."

Allen was raised on a farm and on a ranch near Melrose with two older siblings who have shown livestock for years. This inspired her to pick up the trade. Allen said to prepare for the fair she put her sheep on a special feeding program.

She said her sheep must get adequate exercise and be trained to be able to pose in the contest. She also clipped, washed and groomed her sheep's wool last week. Allen hopes to win the grand prize in the lamb and heifer categories and achieve high showmanship.

"I hope everybody enjoys watching the show," Allen said.

"Maybe they can get interested in it (showing livestock) and start showing some animals as well to help the numbers rise in the barn."