CALEB NICKERSON
In addition to all the old hands at the Pontiac Agricultural Society, this year there will be two new directors heading up the small animal and poultry barn and they hope to . . .
make the exhibit more interactive.
Zion Lekovic and Leonard Belsher who specialize in rabbits and poultry respectively, are new to the director roles, but they both have been exhibiting and raising animals for a long time.
Lekovic was introduced to the farming life early, and currently farms rabbits for meat on his property in Quyon. He had a connection with the Shawville Fair through his grandfather, and long-time fair director Gerald Dagg.
“I kind of grew up taking care and volunteering at the poultry barn, so it came natural to end up being the director for it,” he said.
Belsher grew up raising chickens just outside of town in Clarendon, and said he had more than 500 at a time.
“This was pretty much white rocks, which are the fastest growing chicken,” he said. “A number of summers, I also had a separate show flock that I went to other fairs, including Shawville, and exhibited them.”
After returning to Shawville 15 years ago, Belsher eventually decided to pursue his youthful passion for poultry, though this time he decided to raise geese, as well as Guinea Fowl.
He said that one of the attractions he hopes to bring to the barn this year is an incubator, so visitors have the chance to see chicks break free of their eggs.
“We’re hoping they’ll be more interactive, particularly with children. They’re going to have a chance, perhaps, to pet or feed rabbits and chicks,” he said. “We haven’t had an incubator in a number of years, so people will be able to see chicks hatching almost every day throughout the fair, at least that’s our plan … Working with fertilized eggs can be a challenge. We’ve got them in incubators now but we’ve got to count down the days to the fair.”
Both of them were clearly passionate about their chosen niches in the farming world, and shared a mutual challenge in combating predators like weasels and foxes, which they were discussing prior to the interview. Lekovic noted that groundhogs will kill his rabbits when they make the mistake of venturing into their burrows.
He said what he likes about raising rabbits is the fact that they don’t require nearly as much space as larger livestock like cows or sheep.
“I like the fact that you can have a lot of rabbits in a relatively small space,” he said. “It’s pretty easy to take care of them and you get a bunch of meat off of them and it’s pretty good.”
Belsher said the size of the animals were what drew him to birds.
“I’ve always had a fascination with poultry when I was younger and liked that you could pick them up, you can’t pick a cow up,” he said. “So if a chicken’s bad, you can deal with it, you can lock it up and easily move it around. They also produce eggs, which are a really common food.”
“And if it’s really bad you can actually eat it,” he concluded with a laugh. “You can do it yourself, you don’t have to take it to a butcher or anything.”
