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You Can Bet The Farm 4-H Club Will Be Ready

Tribune photo by GEORGE H. NEWMAN

4-H Club member Jacob Burnette is entering this white frizzle chicken in the Florida Strawberry Festival livestock competition.

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By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: February 25, 2009

PLANT CITY - For half of his young life, Jacob Burnette has been a 4-H Club member, following the lead of both older siblings.

His mother, Rhonda Burnette, a longtime 4-H leader, likes to say 10-year-old Jacob was born into the club.

The Knights Elementary fifth-grader is among scores of Hillsborough County 4-H Club members entering animals into what are among the Florida Strawberry Festival's lesser-known youth shows - for poultry and rabbits.

Jacob is entering the allowable maximum of three chickens in the poultry show, including an exotic Asian breed, the black cochin, a ball of fluff and feathers he said is a guaranteed first-place winner every time. He has brought home blue ribbons in the past with the breed, he said.

Another exotic he is entering, a frizzle, is a popular bantam chicken distinguished by its unique feathers. "Their feathers are curved backwards," Jacob said, "They're pretty cool."

In the youth rabbit show, his solo entry is in the fancy class, a mini lop that grabbed Jacob's attention after a friend showed one a couple of years back. "I liked the kind of bunny and the way it looks," he said of the breed known for its distinctive floppy ears.

This is a big time of year for area youngsters who raise farm animals, with the festival offering competitions for critters from steers to chickens to hogs to rabbits.

Thomas Sturgis, longtime agriculture teacher at Durant High and committee chairman for the festival's rabbit and poultry shows, said both are low-key competitions.

"With the rabbits and chickens, our focus has been to keep a level of competition, but keep it really kid-friendly," he said. "It's not a real stringent or rigorous competition," with about 90 percent of participants earning ribbons. "Everybody has a good time," he said.

Ribbons also mean cash awards: $7 for blue, $6 for red and $5 for white. Best of show nets $25 extra.

"The neat thing about that is we pay the kids in cash," Sturgis said. "It's a direct reward, your pat on back right there," eliminating the need to handing the check over to parents to convert to spending money, he said.

Additionally, youths wanting to sell animals are allowed to advertise them at the show.

"It's all kids; we don't have any professional exhibitors in there," said Sturgis, who has been associated with the shows for 15 years and is in his third year as chairman. "I think we really have one of the better shows in the area, without the sometimes cocky attitude other shows have."

He expects 50 rabbits and 100 chickens to be entered in the 2009 shows at the festival, which runs Thursday through March 8. The rabbits and poultry are displayed in a tent near festival Gate 14.

Professional judges brought in to select entries that best exemplify the breed's standards also provide direction. If there is an issue with any animal - like ear mites common among rabbits, for example - judges offer professional advice on how to resolve the problem, Sturgis said.

For many 4-H Club members, the rabbit and poultry shows offer an early opportunity to prepare for more stringent competition in the youth shows for steer and swine.

This year for the first time, Jacob was lucky enough to win a slot through the lottery that decides which youngsters can enter animals in the swine show. But preparing his young and growing pig for the show requires additional time and dedication beyond what he already devotes to his small-animal entries.

"I have to go out and walk the pig for 30 or 45 minutes" daily in preparation for the youth swine show that will be held on opening night of the 11-day festival. Under Jacob's care, the pig he named Sugar has grown to 252 pounds since he got it several months ago and is well on its way to the ideal market range of 260 to 280.

"Because I got a good pig," Jacob said, he feels Sugar has the makings of a grand champion, an honor that will convert to cash in Friday night's youth swine sale.

He quickly admits he's in 4-H "because it's fun" and, hopefully, "very profitable."

The family's 5-acre spread on Quail Meadow Road north of Plant City provides plenty of room for additional animals, big and small.

When Jacob joined Antioch Critters 4-H Club five years ago, he was following in the footsteps of brother Jarrod, now 19, and sister Kendall, 21.

Their mother, a 4-H organizational leader for a dozen years, said all of her children began showing rabbits and chickens. Early on, Jacob was steered toward the black cochin breed of chickens because "We wanted to do something smaller, a more docile kind he could handle."

This year, Jacob will have two entries in the youth steer show, too.

He's come a long way since he was too young to join 4-H, tagging along with older siblings for meetings and assorted activities. Other 4-H parents "used to tease me that he was the club mascot," his mother said. "He was always there."

The shows' chairman knows firsthand about that youthful exuberance.

"That's the best part of the show, seeing those eyes light up when they get trophies or ribbons," said Sturgis, looking forward to when his own child is old enough to join the 4-H Club.

"Next year my daughter will be 5, and she'll be showing her first animal," he said.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433.

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