Did you visit the Winn Parish Fair in Winnfield this week? If so, hopefully you stopped by the livestock barn to check out the projects that have been raised by the youth of our local communities. You could have seen anything from rabbits and ducks to goats, sheep, pigs, or even cattle. But, if you passed through on Tuesday September 27th , you may have seen something you haven’t seen in quite a while…one of the largest broiler shows in our area.

An amazing 37 pens of broilers were raised and exhibited by 4-H and FFA youth who represented schools throughout Jackson and Winn Parishes as well as Georgetown High School. These broilers were donated as chicks to our program by a local poultry company. The youth were able to take their chicks home and care for them for the past 8 weeks. Each young grower was responsible for providing the feed and water as they cared for their birds. They worked with their broilers, taming and culling, until they chose their best three pullets and/or their best three cockerels to exhibit at the Winn Parish Fair. After traveling to the fair grounds and cleaning up their birds, the young growers were ready for the judge to evaluate their pens.

During judging, the youth presented their birds to the judge who evaluated them for size, development, and uniformity across the pen of three. After choosing the top pens of both pullets and cockerels, the judge brought the top four pens back together to choose our Grand and Reserve Champion Pen of Three Broilers. The Grand Champion Pen of Three Broilers was exhibited by Abel McBride of Weston. The Reserve Champion Pen of Three Broilers was exhibited by Shelby Johns of Weston.

Following the Broiler judging, our youth participated in a Poultry Showmanship Contest. The exhibitors had a one-on-one interview with the judge and then presented one of their birds to him to demonstrate their ability to handle their birds.

Local Showmanship Winners:
Grand Champion Senior Broiler Showman – Alyssa Holland, Weston
Reserve Champion Senior Broiler Showman – Lindsey Jordan, Weston
Grand Champion Little Britches Broiler Showman – Shelby Johns, Weston
Reserve Champion Little Britches Broiler Showman – Reese Johnson, Cornerstone Christian

“Congratulations goes out to all our exhibitors and their families for their time and effort put into making the broiler project successful.” said Jackson Parish 4-H Agent, Kristina Bourgeois. “A sincere thank you goes out to all of our community members who support our local 4-H and FFA programs. We are building the future, making the best even better.