Photo by Samantha Davis. (Left to right) Samantha Hauschild, Morgan Hauschild and Gracie Vos each show their chicken and talk with judge Wayne Fischer during the poultry competition's sportsmanship round at the Lincoln County Fair Thursday afternoon. All three of them placed high to earn a spot in the Minnesota State Fair later this month. 

TYLER — Kicking off the fun of the annual Lincoln County Fair was a series of 4-H shows Thursday afternoon with participants showcasing their poultry and rabbits.

As festival goers began to trickle in on the fairgrounds throughout the day for the first of the four-day festival, several 4-H members prepared their chickens and hens in the barn.

“This year’s competition is much more hardcore … Last year, I think we had half this,” Samantha Hauschild, one of the competitors said. “This year’s numbers have more than doubled. It’s been so much fun now, because that just means you have to be that much better and you have to push for it.”

A handful of participants that earn top spots in the judging competition for each section get a bid to show their animals at the Minnesota State Fair later this month.

Hauschild, along with her sister Morgan Hauschild and friend Gracie Vos, are three of the participants of the day that placed high in Thursday’s poultry competition and get an opportunity to go to the state fair if they choose to.

“This is only my second year, actually (showing animals) … Up until last year, I only did projects,” Vos said. “Not a lot of kids get to go to the state fair or get a trip there.”

Vos showed in brown-egg production, while the Hauschild sisters showed in white-egg production. All three are in the intermediate level of 4-H, for sixth to eighth graders, and come from Hendricks.

“I’ve been in 4-H since second grade, so that’d be nine years, but eight fairs (due to the 2020 cancellation),” Samantha said. “I feel like showing animals, and projects, is definitely one of the really fun parts. That, or I’m doing shooting sports which I really love, too.”

Morgan mentioned this is her fifth year showing animals, and also commented on the growth of this year’s competition and the fun it brings.

For Morgan and Vos, it will be their first time showing an animal at the Minnesota State Fair, and this will be Samantha’s third.

“I first started showing my poultry in second grade when I first joined … I feel like I’ve definitely gotten a little more hardcore about it,” Samantha said. “I still feel like I’m going to keep with the poultry program throughout my high school career.”

Following each category of poultry, a sportsmanship round took place where judge Wayne Fischer had a conversation with each contestant regarding knowledge of their poultry.

The trio had high regards for Fischer.

“I think (today) went really good … The judge was so good,” Vos said.

“He was pretty tough on us, he was a very good judge,” Samantha added. “Things that I have never even noticed on my chickens before, he pointed it out.”

Contestants could be seen hi-fiving and laughing with one another as they left the barn.

“I just love getting together, and showing animals is really fun,” Vos said.

More 4-H shows will take place through the weekend, with swine, dairy, goat and lamb today, with beef and cats on Saturday.

The fair will host several fun activities through the weekend, including a Ranch Rodeo on Saturday at noon, a kids’ tractor pull at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and a hypnotist at 7 p.m. Saturday. There will be a 4-H auction on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and an animal show, and the annual demolition derby will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

“The feeling of when you get a good ribbon … It just feels so good,” Samantha said. “You’re in that position where it’s like, ‘I just did something really great.'”