The Santa Clara County fair is just around the corner and Future
Farmers of America and 4-Hers are busy getting their livestock
ready to show.
The Santa Clara County fair is just around the corner and Future Farmers of America and 4-Hers are busy getting their livestock ready to show.
“Each year many of us raise steers,” said Dustin Vertin, vice-president of Pacheco Pass 4-H club. “After many months of feeding, grooming, cleaning up after (them), and exercising our animals we are ready to take them to the Santa Clara County Fair.”
The fair will be the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Tully and Senter Roads in San Jose. It will run from Friday to Sunday and is free the public.
There will be a carnival full of rides, a demolition derby on Sunday and many different vendors and a multitude of exhibits. There will be art exhibits and entertainment throughout each day. A firerworks show caps the day at 9 p.m.
The youth agricultural groups will be looking forward to the livestock auction on Sunday.
According to Exhibits Manager Eileen Jimenez about 500 people come out to bid on the livestock. It is a way for students to make money to invest in future endeavors. The auction will be held starting at 10 a.m. in the beef tent.
“Some of the kids have graduated and the money they make will go toward college,” said Vera Gomes, Live Oak’s FFA adviser. “The other kids will use the money to buy animals for next year.”
Gomes says that the fair is a learning experience for the students involved. Students learn leadership and understand how their food ends up on the table.
“This is leadership exposure for the students,” said Gomes. “They may not do it for a living, but they will understand and appreciate their food more.”
While the fair doesn’t begin until Friday, competitions begin today with swine and rabbit showing at 9 a.m. The each day this week will have another animal shown. Sheep will be first on Wednesday at 9 a.m. followed by cows on Thursday at 10 a.m. and goats on Friday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Each show event will be held in the live stock tent.
Preparation for the fair has been under way for months. Both the FFA and 4-H members have been working with their animals since November when they bought them. According to Gomes the animals have been well groomed and looked after.
“Everyone is chopping, washing, shearing and feeding,” said Gomes. “The kids have been real busy preparing for the fair.”
According to Gomes, the students have been busy all summer working with the animals. Some have summer jobs, but still find the time to tend to their pigs, sheep, cows, goats and horses.
Each animal’s diet has to be closely monitored to keep them at a desired weight. According to Wendy Hill, regional coordinator for 4-H, keeping an animal is not easy.
“You can’t just cut their feed back,” said Hill. “A ridge forms on the animal and the judges can spot it. You have to use feed with less protein.”
Animals will not be the only competition for members of 4-H. For the past two weeks, they have been setting up art exhibits. Judges will come in and look at the exhibits and make comments that won’t be revealed until Sunday. All exhibits are completed; now they just have to wait for Sunday.
The exhibits, called Junior Stills, is a wide range of competitions. They range from needle arts, to food preservation, to photography, to rifle shooting. In all there are 23 different categories for ages 5 to 19.
Friday 4-H members will be able to test their knowledge of their animals by taking part in metalist testing. The testing has three levels, bronze, silver and gold, that test on knowledge of the program the members are in. Bronze is the lowest level and tests basic knowledge. The each additional level becomes tougher. The silver and gold levels will test more abstract knowledge.
The fair has free admission for the second year in a row. Each day it will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Two years ago the fair lost $600,000 during its 10-day run in May and June. The fair date was changed back to August last year in order to boost attendance and shortened to three days.
Details visit www.thefair.org
