What A Fun Project

Today I went to what I thought was a one day camp. It is not a one day camp it is a project. My family drive's teams of horses and I thought I would go and learn about the equipment and tack and how to hook up the horse's. I had so much fun I signed up for the Project. I think everyone else had fun too.

It is not to late if you would like to learn how to drive a team of horses call the Gooding County Ext. office at 934 - 4417or the Lincoln County Ext. office at 886 -2406 for more information and the time and date of the next meeting.

  This Project was cool the ages of the different 4-H members was from 8 to 17

there were members from Gooding County, Jerome County and Lincoln County

So if you would like to have fun and learn to drive a team of horses.

The next meeting is on the 19th of January in Shoshone

Stay cool keep it natural and I will see you at the next meeting.

Do Your own Ground Work with Your 4-H market Animal Project

We all what to be the Grand Champion Showmen and have the Grand Champion Steer or Heifer.
The Most important thing to remember is there can be only one Champion Showmen and Animal.
In three short years I went from a show ring nightmare to the top six in showmanship, when I stepped out of the ring I made the statement I won; Some thought I was nuts! That is because I had a personal goal to be in the top six.  This is why it is very important to set goals that you can realize. Of course I set my sights on Champion; REACH FOR THE STAR’S, but I will take that personal best win every time.

Tips for Mom and Dad
Teach us, show us, train us; but once we step in the ring we are on our own. Please don’t try to give us orders and tell us what to do. The judge wants to see what we know?  We can not hear the judge if you are giving us directions on what to do.  Believe me we are trying our best!

Safety
Teach us what to do when our steers are behaving badly. Let us do the groundwork and gain the trust of our animal.
Show us how to keep our cool so that we don’t get to nerves in the ring. This takes time and a lot of practice Our steers are BIG and that is the scariest thing.
Train us on how to keep our selves and the others in the ring from getting hurt. Show us what to do in the worst case of badly behaving steers.

To you who are showing the steers, no matter how bad it gets in the ring. If the Judge ask if you would like to leave the ring SAY NO! If the judge wants you to leave He or She will not give you the choice to stay.
This is the time to show that you did work with your steers, and what you have learned.

Below is my story that happened my first year.
My first year with beef project; I had every 4-h showman’s nightmare.

I worked with my calves everyday and everyday it was like they were never messed with, No matter what I did. I kept working and working for months.
So when show day came around I thought I was good to go. I wasn't!
After a couple of times around the ring in showmanship the calf name John Wayne; stepped on the edge of my right boot and tripped me, then he pinned me down by my pants leg. The Judge then came over and helped me up at that point the judge ask me it I want give up and leave the ring? I said NO! A couple of hours later I had to go back in the ring with John Wayne he did a little better this time. Not really!
By the way John Wayne was the gentle one, Now it is time to show Clint Eastwood.
Here it comes, Clint was the wild one a big pain in the neck. Clint didn’t stand still at all. First he kicked another showman's comb out of her pocket and then he came within an inch of kicking the judge. Thank Goodness no one got hurt, The judge tried to touch Clint but No luck he danced and danced around, even without being able to touch Clint the judge placed him 3rd in his weigh class.
Afterward I thanked the judge for not taking me out of the ring.
Now would you like to Know what I learned from this nightmare?
1 - Saler is not a breed for a beginner; I might try Saler again when I get more experience. One thing about Salers they are a GREAT Steak, good eating.

2 - The first year; learn all the safety rules and what to do when you steer acts up.

3 - Never give up; when you are asked if you want to leave the ring say NO.

4 - If you can’t touch them you can’t judge them.

5 - Everything that could go wrong did. I learned more from what went wrong than I ever could have if it would have went right.

No matter where you are from it seems that there is one person at the fair that has a bad time with their animals, never count them out for that person just learned more than any other person there.

One last thing! Don't wait until the last minute to start working with you animals, these are not pets. Remember if you give it your best, that is the best you can do and just keep working at your show ring skills.

Any way that is what I am going to do.

P.S.
This steers name was Clint Eastwood and the others steers name was John Wayne, Famous tough guys. I don't do that any more, because that is just what these two steers were tough guys.

The Six “C’s” for Success

I found this Artical while looking for information that might be helpful with my 4-H market animal project. So I thought I would share the Six "C" for Success with you, this artical was written by The University of Arizona.



The Six "C" For Success
1. CORRECT SELECTION
Select an animal not only with good conformation but with a personality you can work with.

2. CONSISTENCY
There are no shortcuts to success. A consistent program encompassing regular workouts will
accomplish more than a last minute flurry of activity two weeks before the show.

3. CALENDAR
Set calendar deadlines with ration changes, halter breaking, clipping and grooming, and practice
shows. Maintain a regular daily schedule of feeding, handling, and grooming your animal. Two weeks before the fair is not the time to start training your show animal.

4. COMPENSATION
Learn what your animal’s conformational strengths and weaknesses are so as to successfully
emphasize the positive and downplay faults. Similarly, if the show animal has a personality
flaw that will make showing difficult, plan ahead and compensate for this in the show ring.

5. CONFIDENCE
Show with confidence. Adequate preparation will allow you to show with a smile on your face. Be thoroughly familiar with rations, average daily gain, current weight, purchase weight, age, and breed of animal so you can answer questions from the judge. It is also important to be able to identify the different parts of the animal and the associated retail and whole sale cuts. You can help "psych" yourself up by rehearsing the show in your mind with good and bad things that could happen and how you would handle them. Performing in a practice show with members of your club or family acting, as a judge and announcer and ring steward is helpful.

6. CHARACTER
Demonstrate impeccable ethics in the preparation preceding the show and during the show itself. Be courteous to all other exhibitors, parents and leaders. The livestock show is the culmination
of the project year for many livestock participants and the community. Youth livestock exhibitors represent the livestock industry at fairs and shows to the public. A little courtesy (as well as a lot of honesty) goes a long way in relations with the public.

This is a great artical worth reading. check it out for yourself.just click the blue
The University of Arizona link.

Picking your Steers & Breaking Your Steers To Touch

The first year I started with my steer projects; I looked high and low for help on how to break them to touch.
I wanted a way to do it so that my Dad and I would not get kicked and be black and blue for weeks. The first year we were black and blue, But the second year I learned a way to break them with out bruise's or pain.

When you need to know something about cattle your best bet is to find an old Cowboy or someone with lots of  hands on experience. That is how I learned these little tricks.

 Pick your Cattle producer wisely. A quite ranch is one of the first thing to look for. Happy well fed cattle that do not make very much noise.









I like to pick my own steers. I make a list of the quality's that I like in my show steers. I also listen to my Dad and to the owner of the cattle. We actually go into the pen with the steers. This is why you need quite well fed and calm cattle. This takes a while; take your time buying a steer to show is a large investment.






Once you have chosen you steers, it is time to weigh and load them up. Once you have loaded and paid the cattle producer. You then need a brand inspection. Once this is all done you
are now a cattle owner.

It is now up to YOU.
A market 4-H animal project is a lot of work, you have to feed and water and do vet checks and keep records. The more you put into your project the better.

 
If possible put on the lead ropes before you load them, that makes it easier for you, just know that they can and will come off.

Now that I have my steers home. I like to let them get to know their new home for a few days and get use to the change in their feed and calm down from the ride. After a few day's it is time to break my steers to touch.

The first thing to do is put your steers into a small pen about a 12' X 12' so that no matter how hard they try they can not get away from you. You will also need a leaf rake.
The rake feels like your fingers.

and your arm just got about 5' longer.

My Dad goes in first; he takes it slow and starts to rub each steer a little at a time starting with the back of the steer. In the first few minutes your steers will move around but can never get away from you. After a while my Dad can rub them all over with the rake.

Now it is my turn, I rub their backs, neck, rump and legs.

I also make sure to rub their sides, under belly, and brisket. These places on the steer are very important; this is where you will be touching them with the show stick in the show ring.

Now it is time for me to keep using the rake and for my Dad to touch them with his hands. Now we just keep doing this until we no longer need the rake.
After about two hours my steers are broke to touch.
If your steers are not calm to start with breaking to touch can take hours and even days.

The halters came off my steers so we had to put them back on. To do this just take your time and move slowly so not to stress your steers out.

I now rub, and comb,  my steers everyday making sure to talk to them the whole time so they get use to my voice.

Check back in a few days and we will talk about breaking to lead.

Hey don't forget to start your record book the day you bring your steers home.
Record Books
Those simple words cause more stress between child and parent when it comes fair time.
Here is the best tip ever; go to the 4-H website and get your record books and save them to your documents. Then when you work on one of your projects just fill in the date, time, and what you did that day. This takes only a few minutes and when fair time rolls around your record book is complete you just print it out and your done. NO stress, NO tears, NO problem.

I do a lot of projects, and if I waited  until fair to work on my books; I WOULD FREAK OUT.

Staying calm and keeping it Natural 

My Vacation Is Over - The Steers are in Their Pen's

My vacation is over and the 2010 4-H season for me has started.

This means that my day just got longer, now I have to get up earlier, so that I can have time to do my chores between my school class.

I went and picked my steers on Sunday and got all the paper work in order so to be able to start keeping my books for this year.

I will start the ground work soon but for now my steers are getting use to their new home.

I will not  be posting any pictures of my steers at this time; I will post them after weigh-in.

For some 4-H is something you do in the summer but for me it is a year round lifestyle choice.

By the way I will be starting my other projects in the next few weeks.

Be sure to check in from time to time for updates, tips, and fun. Gee I love 4-H!

Of course the wether has changed and the wind is blowing with a chance of snow, fun fun fun!

Getting Ready for My 2010 4-H Market Beef Project

   This is the time of the year when I start to get ready for my new Steers. Before I can bring them home I must clean and repair the calf pens. When Cleaning my pens I remove all old poop clear down to the dirt; I like my steer to start the winter with a very clean pen.
   Last year was really cold and it snowed a lot. I was not quite ready for all that snow and had my hay stacked a long ways away from my calf pens. This year I have my hay right next to the pens to make it easier for me if it snows a lot this year. I also helped my Dad put tarps on all our hay to keep it dry so that we do not loose a lot of hay to mold.  I also helped my dad redo my calf pens and make them a little larger to give my steers more room this winter. 
   Next I check all the water hoses and place straw around our frost free water facet so if we have a lot of wind it won't freeze it up; this is just to be on the safe side.
   I have cleaned and repaired pens, good dry hay, I have winterized our frost free water facet and check all my hoses.

   I also make sure that I have a bloat kit on hand,  and set out mineral blocks.  
   Our horses are not a 4-H project; but I also helped  clean and ready them for winter. We stocked up on grain and gave them a mineral salt block.
   Well I think I am ready to go and pick my steers. I am sure my Dad will find something I forgot, just because that what Dad's do.
   I have already talked to the cattle producer that I get my steers from; Mr. Vos from the Clover Creek Ranch will call me when the calves are ready.
   Now the hard part; I wait for the call.

2009 Jr State Wool Contest Winner

This is my Wool Contest Story:
                                                    My Wool Contest Story

    Hello my name is Cora ; I am twelve years old and I live in  Idaho. I am a fifth year member of the Hodge Podgers 4-H club and this is my fifth year with a sewing project.

    This year my project level was Sew What unit 4. Requirements to complete this level were Collar or Cuffs, Set-in Sleeve, Waistband, Zipper, Pockets, Button and Buttonholes. My first year in Sew What (2008) I completed a wool jumper using the zipper, pockets, button and buttonhole. That is when I fell in love working with wool. Cutting, pinning and sewing wool fabric is great and when it is all done it looks so rich and nice. 2009 left me with waistband, set-in sleeve, and collar or cuffs.

    After reading the Style, Fashion, and Fad activity in my Sew What Member’s Manual I chose to make two garments. I am all about the country life wranglers and cowboy boots that’s me. Dresses are not my favorite thing to wear so I had to find my own style. I decided on a pair of slacks and a cute three-quarter-length sleeve jacket. The pattern for the pants is Simplicity 2860 and for the jacket it is Simplicity 3563.

    Picking the patterns was easy compared to finding the wool fabric in a color that I liked and would wear, I traveled from Boise to Burley. I was looking for a color other than black that could be worn on any given day that would be fashionable for many years, and that I could build my wardrobe around. I chose dark green 80% wool for the jacket and green gray 100% wool for the slacks. Both were on sale.

    There were a few new sewing challenges when it came time to make the jacket. The most difficult was the sleeves, I had to rip and sew one of the sleeves again. I don’t like ripping so I took my time on the other sleeve and used lots of pins. The shawl collar was another challenge easing is and art; my leader said easing takes years of practice, so I just used lots of pins on and took my time on this too. To finish my jacket I hand stitched the hem and added black and silver buttons.
  
    Wool fabric is expensive so I made a practice pair of slacks first out of denim to check for fit and made adjustments to the size and fit. Then I cut out and made my wool slacks; because denim is different from wool I still had to do a little more tailoring to the slacks. I turned them inside out and put them on, pinned and tailored them to fit better. I think the zipper was my most difficult to put in I tried my best and just took my time. It was a good thing I made a practice pair of slacks first the waistband and belt loops were new to me and I needed the extra practice.

    From cowboy boots to sling back shoes now that was a real challenge. I practiced walking in my sling backs for weeks before my county style revue. I even vacuumed the carpet in them.

    When it came time for the  County Style Revue. I was hoping for a cool evening; it wasn’t it was 102 that day. While trying not to sweat (not a good accessory) I tried to stay true to my own style. I added a silver western style necklace, earrings, bracelet, and clip for my hair.  

    At the county level I received a Blue ribbon in style revue and the Purple Rosette for my wool jacket and slacks sewing project.

    The District III Style Revue was held at the Twin Falls County Fair this year. It started at about 9:30 a.m. The weather was a little cooler that morning it even rained, but stopped just in time for the Revue to start. I love going to District it is fun to see what all the others are making and talk to them about their different projects. At District I received a Blue Rosette and the honor of being Intermediate Grand Champion.

    After it was all over I thought to myself; do your feet ever stop hurting when wearing sling backs and heels or is it something we just get use too.

The 2009 Gooding County Year End Awards

The 2009 Gooding County Year End Awards were held on October 10th 2009. There was a Great turn out this year. When I get the News letter with all the award winners I will post them all.












But for now I will let you know how I did.









I received the Top Achievement for: Food and Nutrition, Clothing & Textiles, Fashion Revue, Demonstrations, and Beef for these achievements I received a medals.
I also received the;
Outstanding Clothing Project - $15.00 Scholarship
Best 4-H Intermediate Market Beef Record Book - Plaque
And the
Outstanding 4-H Beef Project - Trophy

I had A Great Year and can't wait to start my next years projects.

Check back soon for the list of all the Gooding County 2009 year winners. I will also be posting more pictures.

4-H Public Speaking

First I would like to say that speaking in public is NOT easy; you stand in front of a lot of people you don't know, and tell them something that you have learned or are learning all of them are
looking at you. Waiting to see what you have to say and in a contest they are judging you on what you say and how you say it.

In 4-H there is three different categories Demonstration; shows how to make or do something from start to finish. Illustrated Talk; Posters, souvenirs, pictures or PowerPoint are used to demonstrate knowledge or opinion, and Public Speaking can be Dramatic Presentation or Original Speech. All of the categories have a recommended time allowance. Juniors ages 8-11 is 4 to 5 minutes, Intermediate ages 12-14 is 5-6 minutes and Seniors ages 15-19 is 6 to 10 minutes.

All contestants are judged on Introduction, Organization, Visual Aids, Materials and Equipment, Content and Accuracy, Information, Stage presence, if you are Relaxed and comfortable with topic, Delivery, Voice control, Effect on Audience, Summary, Questions, and Time.

I myself never take anything that the judges say as personal; The Judges are there to help and teach. I also try to have a good time while I am speaking and smile. I love to hear all the other speakers and always learn something new at these contests.

My moms camera died and two speakers did not get their photos taken and at this time I would like to say I am sorry to Risa and Bronwyn; you both did a great job.

My Gooding Country Fair 2009 Projects

This is LT Dan he weighed 1235 and received a blue ribbon
in quality. Dan was also my showmanship steer and we
also received a Blue ribbon. Dan was a real gentlemen and never
gave me a bit of trouble.







This Forest Gump he weighed 1246 and This is Bubba he weighed 1338
They both received a blue ribbon in quality



This is my poster entry for this I received the Purple Rosette.


This is my Leather Project for this I received a Blue ribbon, The Purple Rosette went to a hand carved Leather Directors Chair, That 4-Her did an out standing job.



My Quilt Pattern is call Big Thunderand my quilt will fit a full size bed. I chose to use a fifties cartoon print and matched the colors in the print for all the borders. For my quilt I received a Blue and the Purple Rosette.



My4-H illustrated talk this year was on the Beef Niche Markets, and the difference between Organic and Natural. It also covered the requirements for each and how to make the transition. I received the purple rosette and I will go to District to compete.






This is my4-H Sew What project - A dark green 80% wool jacket, and 100% wool pants, in style revue I received a Blue Ribbon and on the sewing project I received a Purple Rosette. With this Project I will go to the State level and compete.








I had a great time at the Fair this year, all my steers behaved and my Dad came home without one bruise; ha ha that a first! On Sunday I sent Dan off and Cleaned the Barn. I am Home and getting ready for next year.

I am already thinking about my new steers, what kind of quilt I will make, and what other projects I will do.

I will start school on 9/21/09 but for the next week I will just take a little vacation and veg out for awhile.

I will be posting pictures of all my friends at the fair soon so check back in a few days. I will also post my open class entries.