GIRARD, Kan. — The “Crawford County Fair” officially began today — and it’s not only hot for workers and attendees, but also the animals involved.
With temperatures near, at, or above triple digits — imagine what it’s like for the livestock and poultry who have an extra layer.
Officials say, not to worry — there’s some extra work being done to make sure all animals are safe and hydrated.
“You can hear in the background and kind of see we’ve got fans on the birds, moving some air through here. We’ve got a freezer up front, we’ve got water bottles and ice bags in there. Kids are changing those out all day long, checking on their animals a lot making sure they have fresh water. Good clean feed in front of them, making sure those water bottles and stuff are replaced in the pens,” said Shawn Pryer, Poultry & Rabbit Open Class Superintendent.
Pryer says the heat can affect the livestock in the competitions.
“We’re hot, we’re not going to be very mobile out there. Same thing with livestock, if they’re overly hot, we don’t want to stress them by making them too active. So we just got done with the rabbit show, here today. Tomorrow morning we’ll do the poultry show,” said Pryer.
Judges take into account how the heat affects certain animals.
Shawn Pryer – the heat we’ve had all year, it’s going to affect the bird’s feather quality. They might be in a molt, might be a little rough but usually judges will take that into consideration, kind of time of year, the heat. Again, try not to stress them as much as we’re judging them. Make it quick and as painless as we can.”
He says they have more than enough kids to care for all of the animals to ensure every event goes as planned,
“The kids just do a great job checking on them multiple times a day. Again, can’t stress enough animals here. Yes, we’re kids are here at the fair all week. Got all kinds of shows going on the goats, the hogs, the cattle, horse shows going on. We’ll keep that in mind as the heat gets higher kind of move some stuff around if we’ve got to,” said Pryer.
