Today I had the privilege of being the announcer for the Olds & Eagle 4-H Beef Achievement Day! I had a great time working alongside the conformation judge, Aaron Grant, showmanship/grooming & training judge, Jared Hunter, and ringman Brad McDermid. Thankfully, I also had Robyn Neufeld up in the announcer's stand to help me get everyone's names pronounced correctly and keep things running smoothly! I saw many familiar as well as new faces at the show today and had a few chances throughout the day to have a great chat with many different people.
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| Aaron Grant, former coach of the Texas A & M and Michigan State collegiate judging teams, and myself chatting about judging during a break in the classes. |
I would like to congratulate all of the Olds and Eagle 4-H Beef members on a job well done today! Each of you did a fabulous job whether it was by exhibiting the champion animal, being an exceptional showman, helping out a fellow member, or doing your part to keep your club's stalling area in tip top shape - everyone was a winner today in my books! Two members I would like to make special mention of are Jason Roemmele and Wylie Ness. These two Eagle 4-H members both had full 4-H Project Herds. For those of you who are unfamiliar with 4-H, a 4-H Project Herd is when a member has a yearling heifer project, a 2 year old cow/calf project that started out as a yearling heifer project the year before, as well as a 3 year old cow/calf project that also started out as the member's yearling heifer project, progressed to be a 2 year old with calf and finally is now a 3 year old with calf. This may sound simple but actually having the fortune of both your animals being bred and having healthy calves is not something that happens every year. The amount of time and effort these hard working members must put into their project herd is something few 4-H members will ever get to experience. Last year I myself had a project herd and I can tell you it is certainly no easy task! You must train, feed, and clip not one but five animals... I also had a steer project, so that makes six animals to take care of. Once you are at the show you seem to be in and out of the show ring constantly! At some of the larger, fast paced shows I had to line all of my cattle up ringside and go into class with one, come out and pass my animal to another person, switch show numbers, grab the next animal and go back in! By the end of the day the judge often just laughs when you walk into the ring because you have been in literally almost every class! When you show your entire herd together you must organize enough people to lead your animals while you act as the showstick handler and set up your herd to your liking. Although it was a lot of work I immensely enjoyed showing my 4-H herd last year - it was a huge accomplishment for me! Unfortunately today Wylie was not able to show his herd because his 2 year old cow decided that show day would be the perfect day to calve! She caused quite a commotion this morning when everyone realized Wylie's cow had two little calf hooves sticking out, ready to come out into the world! I guess Mother Nature doesn't really care if it's show day or not... if a calf is ready to make it's entrance into the world, there's no stopping it! The cow was taken to the auction mart where she could deliver her baby in peace, and word came a couple hours later that she had gave birth to a healthy bull calf!
All in all it was an excellent day and I would like to thank both the Olds and Eagle 4-H Beef Clubs for asking me to announce their show today!!
