The Botetourt County Fair Association awarded two Botetourt youth with the 2024 Ag Mini Grants at the fair on August 3. Recipients Jasmine Montgomery and Wyatt Manbeck will each receive $500 to further their agricultural endeavors. Montgomery will be installing a permanent wash rack area at Catawba View Dairy where she and other youth showman keep their dairy show heifers. Manbeck will use his grant funds to purchase new kidding pens for his meat and show goat operation.
The Ag Mini Grants are funded thanks to proceeds from the fair’s Feather to Fork Project, where youth receive either day-old laying hens or broiler birds. Participants raise the birds to the pullet or finished broiler stage and return a portion to sell at the fair in August. Nine-year-old participant Paul Turman said, “I really enjoyed the Feather to Fork program. It was great getting to raise different breeds and expand what I know about poultry. I had a lot of fun and everyone in the program was nice and helpful.”
This year’s Feather to Fork auction was wildly successful and record breaking. The Botetourt Fair Association Board of Directors would like to thank all bidders and this year’s buyers:
4T Farms – The Turman Family
Alleghany Farm Bureau
Clearview Farm – The Holland Family
Garten Trucking
Glenda Snyder
Graceland Farm
Harry Markham
Jason & Kelly Focht
Jenna Lawrence
Jeter Farm
Katherine & David Carter
Kim Lawrence
~ Fincastle Herald staff report
