“Fluffernutter” Nets 4-H Member Her First Farm Show Ribbon

Monroe Bellows had a successful first showing at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg with a turkey hen named Fluffernutter on Monday. The mild mannered bird garnered the St. Agnes sixth grader a fourth-place ribbon in her age group.

Story and photo by Rick Hiduk

(originally published in the Daily Review)

A St. Agnes School sixth grader showed a turkey for the first time at the 109th Pennsylvania Farm Show. Not only did she walk away on Monday with a fourth-place finish in the 12-to-4 year old age division, she has her eyes on a future that includes showing both rabbits and chickens and applying her love for animals and science to learning about poultry diseases and finding cures.

Monroe Bellows, the daughter of Bryan and Loren Bellows, is a member of the Towanda Creek Community Clovers under the umbrella of Bradford County 4-H. The Bellows have raised a variety of animals on their farm near Towanda for many years. Loren showed horses as a youth, and Monroe’s older sister Elayna, currently a sophomore at Towanda Area High School, has shown rabbits and participated in other 4-H projects and programs.

Fluffernutter is certainly not the first turkey that Monroe has raised over the past five years but the first one she decided to show. She purchased the hen as a poult less than a year ago and watched her grow quickly. Solid white with a uniform pink wattle, Fluffernutter impressed the judges with both her beauty and her mild manners.

In addition to turkeys and rabbits, the Bellows still have horses and rabbits. Monroe’s showmanship career is only getting started. She wants to show rabbits and chickens – both on her “to-do list” – but the latter eludes her for the moment.

Currently, Loren noted, the state is not allowing the showing of live chickens at livestock events due to an ongoing pandemic of avian influenza. This is the first in several years that turkeys have been allowed back at the Farm Show, and their handlers had to remove them from the Farm Show Complex shortly after the competition. “We’ve wanted to show chickens, and hopefully, we are getting closer to that,” Loren suggested.

Despite her relative youth, Monroe has her eyes on the future. “I want to go into a business,” she explained. Envisioning a laboratory setting, Monroe wants to “learn more about the diseases they have and vaccinate them.” Perhaps she will find the cure for avian influenza.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show continue through Saturday, Jan. 11, and is about a two-hour, 45-minute drive from Towanda via Route 220. While some elements of the Show are the same every day, other activities and animals available for viewing change daily. For more information, interested readers can log on to pa.gov/agencies/farmshow.

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