4-H Fair Days!

4-H County Fair Week starts tomorrow! The girls have worked so hard to raise their beef cattle to show and sell at the auction. It’s a long week living at the fairgrounds next week, but so worth it for everything they learn in the process. There are ups and downs, early mornings, late nights, hard work, and unforgettable camaraderie with their 4-H friends. At the end of the week, someone takes home a full side of beef to fill their freezer and feed their family all year long, knowing just who raised it and how well it was cared for and finished, making for a super high quality product.

4-H stands for ‘Head, Hearts, Hands, and Health.’ It’s a national organization that was started in the Clark County, Ohio in 1902 to teach the youth skills in agriculture, leadership, and life, and to help bring new agricultural ideas and practices into the community through young people. Their motto is…

‘I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health for better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world.’

There are local 4-H clubs all over the United States (and you don’t have to be a farmer or a rancher to join!) Brian was active showing animals in 4-H throughout his childhood and I was a 4-H member even growing up in Silicon Valley. We raised a lamb and then a turkey in our backyard. Brian’s mom actually saved his old 4-H jackets – these are the girls wearing them! The green jackets are customary for 4-H and the blue is for FFA (Future Farmers of America), which is only for high school age kids.

My girls are active in our local 4-H club and now raise steers every year to show at the county fair and sell at the Junior Livestock Auction to start saving money for their future. Tractor Supply (which you all know is one of my favorite stores – and this is a big reason why!) is partnering with the National 4-H Council to provide millions of dollars in scholarships for 4-H youth through the Paper Clover Campaign so that more of these programs can be available to kids from any demographic, almost anywhere in the country.

My favorite part about the experience of taking animals to the fair is that parents can’t help (unless there is a safety issue) so the kids have to learn how to handle, groom, feed, walk, and water their animals themselves. They have to clean the stalls first thing in the morning and stay at the fair with their animals all week to tend to their needs first. This means the older kids who have done this a lot longer always step in to teach and to help the younger kids learn what they need to do and impart all their years of wisdom and experience.

The kids are judged on their ability to show an animal in its best light – their skill, ability, and appearance are judged, as well as resiliency to keep pushing through even if their animal acts up in the ring. It’s tradition for the 4-H and FFA kids to wear whites with their club gear. Yes, whites are difficult to keep clean around livestock, but it’s a long standing 4-H tradition that…

‘One must wear white pants and a white shirt to show 4-H livestock as tradition and a sign of care and cleanliness. Animal agriculture is the start of the food process and white represents sterility. It also provides a clean, uniform appearance that gives all of the kids an impartial look that does not distract from judging the animal.’

There’s really nothing else like it when you live and breathe this experience together with your community. The support from neighbors and friends as they lend hands, offer congratulations, cheer you on, and share a shoulder to cry on if things didn’t go as you’d hoped. Not to forget the financial support of these same neighbors buying the market animals to help these kids start off with the right foot for their futures. It’s honestly just incredible to be a part of.

At the end of the week it’s hardly ever easy for the kids to say goodbye to the animal that they’ve worked so hard to raise – but they are proud to be the ones choosing, raising, feeding, caring for, washing, walking, watering, and tending to everyday – all with the purpose of raising meat to feed a family. It’s our livelihood, as it is for many families. The kids understand, like we do, that animals will be well cared for with the intention of providing a very high quality product at harvest. Some tears and emotions are part of the experience, but these kids find understanding in the circle of raising food the natural way.

Did you do 4-H or do you support local livestock fairs? I encourage you to get involved with your local 4-H chapter if your kids have any interest – or as an adult, you can volunteer your time to share your skills and help our youth better themselves and better the community around them.