This year, the chicken didn’t cross the road to get to the fair.
A rash of Newcastle disease among poultry led to the Healdsburg Future Farmer Country Fair excluding chickens from its livestock judging and auction this year.
That didn’t mean that club members who only had chickens were left with nothing to do, however.
Future Famers of America (FFA) member Jacqueline Doherty can attest to that.
Though she normally only shows chickens and therefore had no animals at the fair, Doherty helped her team take several awards.
To get to the award stage, Doherty said the hardest part of the week is preparing.
“There’s one day that’s purely to make sure everything’s set up,” she said.
Doherty has been with FFA for four years and was in 4-H before that for seven. She started out with chickens.
She said the process to raise them up was pretty simple: maintain a coop and keep them fed and watered. She raises egg layers and brings some of them for show as well.
“The small animals are the easier ones to raise,” she said.
All that hard work even without poultry is part of the team building process, she said.
“It’s like being in a bigger community. The agriculture community in this town is really huge,” she said. “It’s really supportive, you become like a family.”
