First Year in 4-H

This evening was the final event of our first 4-H year...the 17th Annual Horsefly 4-H Club Banquet.
 
Reflecting on the year I have to say, it was a successful and fun year, it was a steep learning curve and most of the time I felt we were shooting in the dark, but we did have lots of help and next year will be a different story...I hope.

So the year started off in January with our first meeting.  I was very impressed at the leadership of the older members and how they knew how to run an election of officers and generally conduct a meeting.  Gwenna decided she would do a ewe lamb project which meant that she would show her ewe lamb and then bring it home for breeding and have the option of showing a ewe with lamb at foot the following year.  The key for her was that she wasn't going to have to sell it.


The next event was the public speaking competition.  Eeek...I couldn't imagine anything worse but Gwenna rose to the challenge and handled it with relative ease.  She decided to write a speech about her Nana growing up during the war and tell some of the stories that my mum had shared with her.  While she was nervous (and I was a wreck) she was pretty comfortable delivering her speech and was happy with what she had done.

In the Spring we had the judging rally in 100 Mile.  Judging involves viewing a group of sheep, rabbits, rabbit hutches, whatever and ranking each entrant from first to fourth based on a set of criteria.  The kids had to give their reasons for judging one entrant over the other.   One leader explained this skill development as being useful when buying your 4-H project or later when you want to buy a car.  Yes!

So far I was quite impressed...Gwenna was learning meeting etiquette, public speaking and critical thinking!   And next came the animals.

We found someone in Big Lake who was getting rid of their herd of Suffolks so late in March we went and had a look.  Gwenna picked out two lambs and couldn't decide, I liked the looks of them as well as their moms so we bought two pairs.  Here they are being delivered by Uncle David and Auntie Susan;

Here they are settling in to their new surroundings...

Gwenna spent quite a bit of time giving them handfuls of grain and getting them to be not quite so scared of us.

A few weeks later we had to wean the lamb from it's mother.  It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be.  Momma looked kind of relieved...that lamb was getting big!

So our next major 4-H event was Achievement Day.  Unfortunately Gwenna couldn't participate in the club's achievement day because before she could show her sheep she got kicked in the head by a passing steer.  She was pretty shaken but okay and her achievement day was a week later at our place...here we are giving Zara (the lamb) the spa treatment...

 Here is the judge giving the girls some pointers...

After Achievement Day, we had three weeks to get ready for the Williams Lake Annual 4-H Show and Sale.  This was quite the event, we spent four days camped out at the Williams Lake Stockyards.  The kids had a blast running around the barns and climbing the giant saw dust pile.  Gwenna showed Zara on the Saturday.  On show day some of her fellow club members helped her to pretty up Zara...including a quick blowdry...

Apparently it is a tradition in the sheep club to have your hair french braided for the show ring, so thankfully one of the 4-H leaders was able to do Gwenna's...

And here she is in the show ring...

If you have ever handled a sheep, you know just how challenging this would be...she had to be able to control that sheep by just leading it holding it's head...I couldn't have been prouder of her...

She didn't win any ribbons or trophies but she definitely won my respect for persevering and getting out there...what you can't see is the crowd up in the stands.
So last night we had our club awards night.  Gwenna won the showmanship award and the lamb award...here she is accepting her trophies...

We are all so proud of her.  Last week we took Zara and her sister over to a neighbour's ranch for breeding so that next year she will be able to show a ewe with a lamb at foot...fingers crossed for another great year!