Small Animal Barn aflutter with fair activities

Don't be fooled by their small size. With rabbits, guinea pigs and poultry, there's a lot more than meets the eye.

The women in charge of the Small Animal Barn at the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo — Poultry Superintendent KellySue Bain, Rabbit Superintendent Ashley Ball and Pocket Pal Superintendent Amanda Oedekoven — invite everyone to stop by the barn and find out what goes into breeding, hatching, raising, showing and harvesting the small but complex creatures.

"Our youth are so great at reaching out to barn visitors," Ball said. "They are at the age where they love to share."

Now in their fourth year working together as a team, the trio of Small Animal Barn superintendents have taken small animal competitions at the fair to new heights.

Participants not only learn more about their animals and how to raise the best specimens possible, but they also have the opportunity to take their skills and knowledge to the next level of competition.

Several members of the Flathead Valley Rabbit Breeders Club, a group started by Bain, Ball and Oedekoven, recently traveled to Reno, Nevada, to participate in the national American Rabbit Breeders Association convention. Many of the club members took home honors.

"We want to help the kids take their projects to whatever level they want," Oedekoven said. "If they want to compete and be competitive at the national level, we will help them get there."

"Or if they just want to raise one really great rabbit, we can help them do that, too," Bain added.

Many of the children and teens who exhibit animals at the fair do not live in rural areas or on a farm.

"Not all kids have room to raise a large market animal," Oedekoven said. "Raising a small animal gives kids who live in town the opportunity to learn about animal agriculture and where their food comes from."

That's been the case with Ball's children, ages 5 and 8, who will show rabbits in the Open Class competition at the fair until they are old enough to participate in 4-H. Ball said she had no prior experience with 4-H or raising animals before her children took an interest in the hobby.

"Rabbits are very versatile," she said. "My kids can show them, we can tan and sell the hides, and we can put food in our freezer."

Rabbits and poultry don't only require less space than a hog or cow, but they also have much shorter life cycles. Kids who breed and raise them benefit from observing the entire life cycle in a compressed time frame. For 4-H participants who are engaged in small animal projects, that allows them to learn quickly from their mistakes and adjust techniques and strategies accordingly.

Small animals also are much cheaper to acquire and raise than large animals.

"Poultry are probably the cheapest option to get quality genetics," Oedekoven said. "The kids can order whatever they want through the mail very easily."

As an added benefit, kids can learn business skills from raising rabbits and poultry. The Northwest Montana Fair now hosts a small animal sale following the annual hog, steer and lamb sale on Saturday morning.

The public can purchase poultry and meat rabbits from 4-H and FFA youth. The animals are processed by a U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected company and delivered packaged and frozen to the buyers. The entire process is managed by the kids.

But most of the rabbits, poultry and other small animals on exhibit at the fair aren't destined for the livestock sale. Most of them will return home when the hustle and bustle of fair week concludes, and some of them may even be back in the Small Animal Barn next year.

Get involved

The Small Animal Barn is one of the most interactive barns at the Northwest Montana Fair. Events there will include:

Story Time (10 a.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday) Children can hold a rabbit or other small animal on their laps while listening to a librarian read stories aloud.

Rooster Crowing Contest (9 a.m. Sunday) Visitors can place "bets" on the roosters they think will win this noisy competition.

Costume Contest (2 p.m. Saturday) What could be cuter than a rabbit wearing a funny hat?

Small Critters Skill-a-Thon (10 a.m. Sunday) Small but mighty critters will strut their stuff.