Trumbull 4-Hers will have to rely on descriptions for their poultry projects

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

BAZETTA

Because of the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s ban on displays of live birds at county fairs in the state this year, Trumbull County 4-H members will have to rely more on their powers of description.

There still will be a poultry division at the fair, but participants will be able to show photos of only their chicken’s, turkey’s or duck’s head and feet and will have to describe the rest to judges, said Ty Kellogg, organization director for the Trumbull County Farm Bureau in Orwell.

Normally, they would show the animal to the judges.

The state announced the ban last month as a means to avoid spreading avian flu, which has affected 44 million U.S. birds this year. Avian flu is highly contagious and primarily affects domestic poultry but is believed to be spread by wild migrating birds.

All states surrounding Ohio also canceled bird showings at county fairs.

Kellogg said many young people in Trumbull County put a lot of work and money into preparing their poultry projects and it would have been sad to see their work go wasted.

The farm bureau also became aware that there were going to be additional costs incurred by the 4-H members who were planning to show poultry projects because the state limited the processing of the projects to specific, FDA-approved butchering facilities, Kellogg said.

The Farm Bureau decided that the 4-H’ers should not have to pay those additional costs, so the Farm Bureau agreed to pay the additional butchering costs.