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staff@delphosherald.com
LIMA — Eighteen-years-old Jordan Barclay has been showing pigs at the Allen County Fair for three years but this is only his second year showing chickens. He says he was taken by surprise when he won Grand Champion in the Meat Pen Chicken show.
“I was really surprised, it kind of caught me by storm but I was really happy,” he said. “This year, I improved a lot on my feeding times and just how well I was taking care of them and keeping them clean. I managed to keep them at a good weight, too, none were over the eight-pound limit.”
Barclay says the hardest part of showing is staying calm and making sure everything is ready beforehand.
“The difficult part is just making sure the animals are fed, watered and clean and also making sure I’m wearing what I need to wear,” he said. “Another hard part is keeping myself calm and being patient with the animals so they stay calm. If I’m calm and they’re calm, we work better together.”
Once everything is ready for the show, Barclay can enjoy himself.
“My favorite part is definitely the show itself,” he said. “I enjoy being able to show the judges what I have, what I can do and how well I’ve taken care of my animals. I like being able to show them what I can bring to the agricultural industry.”
Since this is Barclay’s last year at the fair, he’s happy to leave on a high note.
“I really don’t think I could’ve done anything better this year because I did the best I could,” he said. “I won’t miss all of the work I had to do but I will definitely miss the atmosphere and getting a chance to see all of the other people showing. I’ll miss just being at the fair.”
Barclay will be a senior at Jefferson High School this year. He is the son of Sue and Randy Barclay of Delphos. To read the rest of this article please subscribe or sign in |
