Hybrid Heritage Turkeys at the North Carolina Mountain State Fair
01-Nov-2010
The Youth Heritage Market Turkey Competition is held annually at the Mountain State Fair in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. This year, Hybrid Turkeys was proud to provide day-old bronze poults for this competition, which is open to youths 18 years-old and younger. The young turkeys were distributed on May 1, 2010 and grown as projects throughout the summer. On September 18th all turkeys were assembled at the Mountain State Fair where each student had the opportunity to compete with one hen and one tom for top honors and prize money. Fair staff and extension faculty from NC State University along with the NC State Veterinarian serve as officials for the show and registering birds for the event.
Birds arrive between 8:00am and 10:00am where they are registered, weighed and tagged for the judging. Turkeys are then arranged into classes of hens and toms – there are usually at least ten classes. Judging is scheduled to begin at noon and participants are called into the show ring for their birds to be evaluated. While one class is being evaluated, entries for the next class are called to line up behind the show ring.
Within each class, birds are evaluated for muscling and conformation of wings, back, thighs, drums and breast with most emphasis on the breast. Other categories include: feathering, overall bird condition and deductions can be made for market defects like breast buttons, bruises or foot pad lesions. Participants also must answer detailed questions about the rearing of their birds, what kind of feed they used and caring for the turkey.
Birds are scored within each class with individuals typically scoring between 60 and 90 points out of a possible 100 points. Birds are ranked for each class and ribbons are awarded for each place. Younger kids may be assisted by their brother or sister - even Grandfather, in some cases.
Some of the contestants are from families with a poultry background while other youngsters have livestock experience and some have absolutely no experience with farm animals. A few of the contestants attended the NC State Poultry camp for high school students in Raleigh during the summer. For all these future poultry growers, company employees and eventual consumers, Hybrid Turkeys gets much exposure in this event and everyone goes away with a better understanding of turkeys and turkey production.
The top bird in each class gets the opportunity to return to the championship class to compete for the coveted prize of Grand Champion Tom or Hen for that year. Youth of all ages enjoy the chance to compete for prize money since the Grand Champion tom or hen earns $800 dollars while the Reserve Champion (runner up) gets $400.
All birds are returned to the fairgrounds including extra birds that are not judged in the formal competition. Following the show, all birds are processed and the meat is donated for charitable use in the community. All birds this year were purchased by Butterball who shared top billing with Hybrid for the event.