By Ava Fay Haas and Gina Weaver
The Ukiah Shamrock 4-H Club had success with several 4-H members at the show at the Redwood Empire Fair.
They matted their photographs, pressed the clothing items they made, arranged their flowers and baked their goodies. They also sheared their sheep, washed their pigs, bathed their chickens and turkeys, that’s right, the chickens got a bath, groomed their cavies (those are guinea pigs) and brushed their rabbits, all in the hopes of winning a blue ribbon or selling at a good price if they were going to auction.
Those entering animals also did what is called showmanship. You present yourself to a judge and demonstrate how well you have trained your animal and tell how much you have learned about that animal. Members were dressed in all white clothes with a green tie and green 4-H hat with the award pins on it they earned. Our club exhibited animals such as sheep, swine, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, cavies, dogs and horses, as well as arts in the junior building.
The sheep project members brought home several awards including Champion Columbian ewe lamb (Brynn Vagt), Champion ewe lamb and Reserve Grand Champion ewe (Kristen Helms), first place in showmanship (Brynn Vagt), top five in sheep showmanship (Zoey Schreiner, Kristen Helms) and top five in market lamb class (Riley Schreiner, Kasey Land and Flora Bird).
The swine project members earned Reserve 4-H Champion Duroc (Kaylani McAsey), top five 4-H Black Cross swine (Tatiana McAsey), penned for swine showmanship (all swine members), top ten market swine (Rosalina Aguilera, Samira Aguilera, Giada Giacomini, Brody Weir and Judah Allen).
The turkey project placed fourth place in showmanship and top five in market turkey (Eden Hurn). The chicken project was extremely successful winning Supreme Grand Champion market chicken meat pen (Chase Vagt), Reserve Grand Champion market chicken meat pen (Addison Helms), top ten poultry showmanship (Chase Vagt, Addison Helms and Klayten Zinn), top ten breeding chickens (Addison Helms, Timmy Haas and Chase Vagt).
The rabbit project was also very successful winning Supreme Grand Champion rabbit meat pen (Garrett Weaver), Champion 4-H rabbit meat pen (Garrett Weaver), Champion single fryer rabbit (Garrett Weaver), sixth market rabbit meat pen (Aaron Schneider) and seventh market rabbit meat pen (Giovani Mendez). Best of Variety New Zealand Red (Giovani Mendez), Blue New Zealand (Garrett Weaver). Rabbit showmanship second place advanced showmanship (Garrett Weaver) fourth place intermediate (Giovani Mendez), top ten rabbit showmanship (Aaron Schneider, Emmie Harper, Ava Haas and Clara Gibbs). The cavy project earned Best of Show cavy (Aaron Schneider) and top five cavy showmanship (Aaron Schneider).
The dog project didn’t have any members this year at the fair. We hope to have some next year.
The horse project members placed top five (Kristen Helms and Sierra Pinches).
We want to thank Mendocino County for their generosity and for supporting our members at the Redwood Empire Fair Auction that was held on Saturday, Aug. 5! These members would not be able to continue their projects without your incredible support.
The Redwood Empire Fair is the end of the project year for 4-H. We look forward to spending time with our friends and helping each other. This is something we look forward to all year. Now it is time for members to enroll in a new year and decide what we want to do. There are many choices, things like archery, beekeeping, cooking, photography, floral design, sewing and animal projects. The list is very long.
We learn dependability, responsibility and develop useful skills that will help us in life – things like recordkeeping and public speaking. We also provide community service and strive to be better citizens.
Does this article interest you? If so, we invite the community to join us to register your child age 5-18 for 4-H and learn more about the projects we offer. The Ukiah Shamrock 4-H Club open enrollment night and ice cream social is Thursday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. at the 4-H office, 890 N. Bush St., Ukiah. We hope to see you there!
Ava Fay Haas and Gina Weaver are members of Ukiah Shamrock 4-H Club.
