Northern Illinois FFA members bring out their best to Lee County 4-H Fairgrounds

AMBOY, Ill. — FFA members from across Section 2 strutted their stuff at the Section 2 FFA Fair at the Lee County 4-H Fairgrounds in Amboy.

Caroline Montgomery, who will be a junior at Rochelle Township High School, brought four ducks and six pygmy goats to the fair to be shown and judged. She held one of the four call ducks as poultry judge Lynn Eden looked over the pint-sized poultry.

“I like when people stop by and tell me how cute my ducks and goats are,” Montgomery said.

The days leading up to the fair are busy ones for Montgomery. While her ducks handle most of their own pre-show grooming, the goats need more attention.

“I make sure the ducks have clean water, and they will keep themselves nice. The goats, I have to brush them, bathe them and clip them and walk them. I spend a whole day before the show getting everybody ready, sometimes two, depending on what everybody needs,” she said.

Montgomery’s hard work paid off. She received champion pygmy and reserve champion pygmy and earned champion showmanship in the goat division at the fair.

Students come from far and wide to show at the fair. Section 2 includes FFA chapters from Amboy, Ashton-Franklin Center, Byron, Chadwick-Milledgeville, Erie, Forreston, Fulton, La Moille, Morrison, Mt. Morris, Oregon, Polo, Prophetstown, Rochelle, Sterling and Stillman Valley.

Forreston FFA members Colson Lamm and Kyla Lamm were showing sheep at the fair on July 20.

“I like getting them all ready to go, and it’s fun seeing how they do and what other people think of your sheep,” Colson said.

A familiar face to Section 2 FFA was in the sheep ring as a judge.

Buddy Haas, former agriculture teacher and FFA adviser at Morrison High School, returned to Section 2 to judge sheep.

Haas is now a herdsman for Horton Farms Shorthorns in St. Charles, but said FFA and Section 2 remain close to his heart.

“It’s always good to be able to come out to Section 2,” he said.

While his specialty is cattle and he showed cattle, Haas said judging sheep is about the basics.

“I like to keep things simple,” he said. “On the breeding side, structure and how the animal moves and how they are built is the most important thing for me, then body shape and composition. On the market side, market being what we are going to eat, I look for: are they market ready, are they heavy muscled, the right degree of finish, then structure, then if they have a good look.”

While the champion and reserve champion banners represent all the hard work that FFA members put into their fair projects, Haas said he hoped all the exhibitors gained something from their FFA fair experience.

“It’s giving the kids opportunities because, at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: learning and making memories. We use livestock as a tool to make kids better. On summer vacation, kids are sitting on a beach or waking up at noon. For these kids, their animals have to be fed twice a day, worked twice a day, and the work ethic it takes to do that should be recognized. It takes a lot, for sure,” he said.