Absolutely, if the showing exists to show the natural beautiful state of the birds, then thats great, and keeping a lot of money out of it does help to keep those truly in it for the love of the birds around rather than those who ruin it for others looking for a quick buck. That can be said for anything though. I think for something like this its one of those things that its good its not a huge thing, because those dedicated to it are the ones involved.
By the way, I think someone mentioned NH because they thought you said thats where you live with "4H". What is 4H?
I do live in New Hampshire, 4H is amazing!
I can't speak for everyone when I say this, but I'll give you the low down on what I did.
School let out, I went straight to the farm where I learned about responsibility, feeding goats, and sheep and tiki and Diablo (the two horses.) milking goats, trimming hooves, bottle feeding the babies when the mother's were having problems producing milk, and the most fun part! Hanging out with them!
Since I showed goats I also brushed them, trained them to walk along side me.
If you are unfamiliar with goats they are extremely intelligent animals, my big boy was huge, and very aggressive towards anyone besides me, broke the owners ribs but I could do anything I wanted with him and he'd be fine being a herd animal they become very attached to their "herd" I was his which meant every day I had to go and feed him, if not he'd barely eat.
Another example of them being trained is one of our milk goats Wanda would purposely seek out the milk stand, as that's where she got her treats, and her own food (still ate with other goats.)
For the shows, you need a basic understanding of anatomy, but simple things like withers (highest part of their back, that you use for taking measurements.)
While this may sound like fun, and games there's a lot of heart ache involved, birth problems and illnesses, saying good bye to an animal you spent so much time with trying to save, like runts, and premature babies.
Think about it as boy scouts / girl scouts but for agriculture, for a short answer.
They even have camps for 4H.
Sorry for rambling but as you maybe able to tell it's a big passion of mine.
Maybe someone else can speak about their experiences in it?
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