4-H Calves

My seven-year-old grandson begins his 4-H experience this year as a Clover Bud--a program for children who are not yet 9 years old.  He has a young calf that he has bottle-fed which he will show at the county fair next week.  He is the fourth generation in our family to participate in 4-H--his great-grandfathers, grandparents, parents, and now our grandson.

I joined 4-H when I was nine years old.  My dad and his siblings had been in 4-H when they were young and my two older cousins were already in the program, so I was excited to take part as well.  Our club the Whitecrest Hijacks, named for a small community down the highway to the east a few miles from the ranch, had about 10 members which met monthly for meetings.  I took market beef and sewing for my first projects, giving both Dad and Mom responsibility for my progress.

In late November Dad helped me choose a steer from a group of calves that our dads had selected from the ranch herd.  For a child's first year in 4-H, they would let that child choose a calf first, and later on the person in their last year got to choose first.  I named my calf Chip.  We had another steer to keep him company; I called him Dale.  Since I was the only one in our family in 4-H, my Dad focused his energies on getting me and Chip ready for fair. One of the first things we needed to do was train him to lead, something a calf does not naturally want to do.  We spent a number of days over Christmas break accomplishing this.  Dad and my uncles also broke all of the sale bulls to lead, so there were a lot of animals learning to respond to the tug of the halter.

 I had to feed Chip in the morning before school and evening chores consisted of feeding Chip, helping Dad with other chores and brushing my steer as soon as he finished his grain. This helped tame him down and developed a great coat of hair that would make him look sharp at fair.  This continued through the school year and then in the summer began the training for the show ring.  Dad had a string of bulls and a heifer that he showed at the state fair, so as he took each one of his animals around the yard, I would take Chip every time.  Dad had us both well trained by the time fair arrived.

At county fair, the judge selected Chip as the Grand Champion steer.  Dad was quite pleased and I was delighted as well.  We took Chip to the state fair and there the judge choose him for Champion Hereford steer.  So, my 4-H career started on a very good note.  I continued in 4-H for the next nine years, finishing after senior year in high school.  I have many good memories of being in 4-H; I learned responsibility and many skills that have served me well over the years.  I look forward to seeing my grandson have some similar experiences.