Finn Blatz: Club Reporter
On March 23rd our club, the Millarville-Stockland 4-H Club, held a clipping clinic at the new Millarville Racetrack Arena. Many of the members were able to see the brand-new arena that day, and it made for a great place to hold a clinic. The members set up clipping chutes and got to work on clipping the hair on our projects. Clara Blatz held a few demonstrations to help the members and give them a better idea to effectively clip. All the projects looked much better after they had been clipped and the kids did a great job, even if it was their first time clipping. The club held another clinic on the 27th of April, but instead of just clipping there was also howmanship involved to help members improve their skills in the show ring. Detailed demonstrations about clipping and showmanship were held by Tyler and Amanda, 2 passionate cattle showmen who were kind to come and help our club. They both helped a lot with both clipping and showing, and they brought a lot more information and tips to help us kids.
There were many other events that happened in May, including Highway Cleanup on the 4th. Although it was a cold and wet day, we were able to clean all the ditches that our club was assigned fairly quickly, so we weren’t freezing in the cold weather for too long! We all felt good after helping out the community and celebrated with lunch at the Priddis Hall. All in all, it was a good day to express an action of community service.
Lastly on May 12th, we had our club Achievement Day, where all of the members of our club brought all of their projects to be shown and placed with all of the other projects in the club. This was the first time all the member’s animals were together. Many of the projects that were there included lambs, ewes, heifers, cows, and steers. Some admirable wins at the sheep show were Tanner Watkins for Grand Champion market lamb, and Justin Watkins for Grand Champion breeding ewe. There was a lot of competition for the female show, but the hard work payed off for the winners of Grand Champion heifer by Amy Jardie, and Clara Blatz for Grand Champion female. The steer show also had lots of competition, but Amy Jardie came on top with Grand Champion steer. Although some of the members didn’t win based on their animal, they had a chance to win based on their showmanship skills. Maddie Watkins won Top Junior Showman, Clara Blatz won Top Intermediate Showman, and Megan Rawn won Top Senior Showman. All of the members performed exceptionally well at Achievement Day and we can’t wait to show again at 4-H On Parade from May 31st to June 2nd, where there will be sheep, female and steer shows, but also a Sheep and Steer sale on June 2nd.
