The Nevada State Fair~what a Dud!

[seedcorn]

God that last post made me sound old

No kidding...... I feel for you.....

What I know, I'm glad most pulling contests are machines and not animals.

 

[Beekissed]

Around these parts they still have the draft horse pulls, still have a very active 4-H presence with plenty of animals for show and sale at the fair. All the animals are vet checked at the fair and even prior to the fair for health and all are in top condition.

In these smaller towns and local fairs everyone knows everyone and no one could get by bringing a sick animal to the fair...they'd be run out of the place on a rail. Those kids work too hard all spring and summer on their animals to have them put at risk and everyone is there to win. And that trickles all the way down to the rabbits and poultry.

As for commercial poultry having the best genetics....they have the best genetics that is geared towards producing meat quickly, they do not have the best towards keeping an animal healthy. There is no need for them to breed for that, as they only expect the animal to live to 8 wks of age and they can't even get that to happen.....hundreds of dead birds taken out of those houses daily and thrown on the litter pile to compost(supposedly)before that litter is taken to be placed on the fields. Then you get to see all the carrion birds standing in the fields eating on the dead birds....contracting their diseases and carrying them along to the next place and the next.

No preconceived notions here...I lived where they have many, many commercial poultry houses and got to see firsthand the "good genetics" of all their dead birds scattered in the fields next to my house. If they are all so healthy, why all the dead birds every single day? Oh...that's right...somewhere there is a backyard flock killing all those birds that are contained in a building that had the best biosecurity that there is with those top notch genetics. Must sneak in under cover of darkness to spread their disease to those poor commercial birds that are raised in such pristine and healthy conditions.

 

[valley ranch]

It's a blessing to age, anyway Nyboy I be older than yea, more n likely.

 

[valley ranch]

Well we had words with those who set up the State Fair. They promise: Next year there will be animals, but the animals will be at Fuji Park, not a big enough park to have as many animals as at the Event Center in Reno.

The Fair went downhill when the people who ran it quit. Until people with their outlook take over, the fairs will be less than grand.

 

[Smart Red]

Not so old, Nyboy. I've seen the horse pulls and I've seen the tractor pulls. I've even seen World Champion rope pulls. I like watching them all, but, let's be honest here, who keeps work horses anymore? Tractors are everywhere.

Lots of Amish and Mennonite around here do, but I've not seen their pulls.

 

[seedcorn]

Amish trained horses would not stand a chance against a trained pulling team. I strongly object to methods to train pulling horses.

Bee, as a child I also saw them lay dead birds in fields. Today, they go to jail for that. If they hauled hundreds of dead birds out daily, they would go out of business. Maybe in south they do things different.

 

[thistlebloom]

Seed, the training methods you have witnessed are not universal.

The pulls I've watched the last two years have been exhibitions of strength that attest to a kind and reasonable training program. I don't know a lot about a lot of things, but I can say with modesty that I'm a good reader of horses. There are "tells" with animals that you can detect, even very subtle ones that belie the way they are managed.
A lot of the horses at the pull I go to are bread and butter work horses. I mean, they are used in small logging operations and earn their keep on small farms.

Those animals have jobs, abusive training methods would make them unreliable as working partners.

I don't know what goes on elsewhere. But locally it's clean competition.

 

[seedcorn]

How are they taught to rear and hit the harness in unison? I have never seen a working horse do that. I want to think those that use electric prods are driven out. Along with other methods. It makes my blood boil to think of those things. & I am not a horse person.

 

[valley ranch]

Now as to animals picking up something at a fair.
Anytime you bring animals together there is that chance, I agree to that.

Wife was saying today: Reminding me of a 60 pound boy showing a 2000 pound cow, " you know that what his cow, that he worked with her. But she said " The kids that are showing an animal and can't tell you what breed it is, that have to have their animal chained in a choke hold so they can shear it. That's their parents animal, it is being shown so as to get a better price, the fair animals always sell over market price.

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Well, I don't believe, because I can't find that to be true.

By the by, we had a poultry ranch, Sold poultry to markets, restaurants. We trucked them in, when we could no longer produce enough for our market, the conditions the chickens were raised in were not very good.

I think, from what I have seen and the research I've done, most of this after reading the couple of post on this thread, that the quality of animals raised by non commercial grower who show their pride at the shows and fairs, in most cases, exceeds those raised in large herds.
Even those grown/raised by kids of large ranches.

I've looked at the animals, looked at their skin, their eyes, been permitted to check their teeth and hooves.

We keep a closed herd and watch what comes in contact with our animals including their feed, these people do the same. I can see that.

I've seen CL in large herds. In smaller herds this type of thing is noticed.

No! I don't buy that, it's contrary to what I've found, seen with my own eyes.

Yeah, no wonder the GC animals sell for so much.
I've to hate factory farming so much over the last year. My uncle raises cattle on his father's ranch and the meat quality is really good. Over the past few years we've had a couple of sets of meat chickens, I've seen there environment and learned how good it is. Our egg and show girls still get great environments. The difference is insane. And coming this week I'm prepping for fair in six weeks by getting 25 Cornish Cross.