Last week was the Saratoga County Fair!
That Monday, I was able to sneak a farm visit into my schedule before the fair chaos took over our lives here at Saratoga County CCE. I talked a lot with a local farm owner and gathered some data on how long the pre-farm survey and on-farm evaluation can be before the time cost outweighs the potential benefits for farmers. Furthermore, I learned that manure management and equine business and liability laws were the biggest concerns of this local boarding and lesson facility, and I’m predicting that they will also be concerns for other boarding/lesson operations.
The rest of my week was mostly running around helping prepare for the county fair that happened Thursday – Sunday. The outside horse arena wasn’t in the best shape due to lack of maintenance due to no events being hosted in it for over a year due to COVID-19. I got to see firsthand all of the work required to transform it into a usable arena with consistent footing that was safe for the horses. I also did my part, and helped with pulling out weeds and removing large rocks.
During the actual fair days, I helped run the 4-H equine events, and spent a lot of time taking photos of that, other horse events, and 4-Hers in general showing animals, which could potentially be used by CCE Saratoga.
Overall, it was a lot of fun!