We'll have to swap FFA stories next time we see eachother Steve. The only time I spent in Pullman (beside two Apple Cups) was at the State Convention. My specialty was judging dairy as well. I still have those peculiar flavors of tainted milk embedded in my taste buds...rancid, sweet, sour, malty, bitter, etc....yuk!

I wouldn't trade growing up on a farm for anything though; no need to have the birds and the bees explained to you when you grow up on a farm...you see 'em bred, you see 'em born, you raise 'em....then you kill and eat them. We raised every animal, both feathered and furred, except horses...can't eat horses.

I did my first "chicken project" when I was 15 year old freshman. Raised 225 Cornish Cross, the stupid white meat chickens. All went well until it came time to butcher them. I started butchering them when they were 3.5 lbs and about 7 weeks old....every day after school and every weekend for weeks on end. Ended up employing my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and any/all friends.....even had an automatic chicken plucker. By the time I finished they were 11 weeks old and weighed nearly 6 lbs, basically small turkeys. Back then I got $2.25/lb for them though, and did turn a profit.

Attack roosters? The reason I cautioned Andy about buying straight run chicks is from personal experience. I bought 25 straight run Rhode Island Reds hoping to get about half hens for laying and half roosters for eating...ended up with ONE hen and 24 very nasty, mean attack roosters. Meaner than a pack of pit bulls, I kid you not.

Ike