4-H

The hard parts of growing up on a farm might be as important as the good parts

Jenny Schlecht — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:30:00 GMT

Raising kids on a farm has a lot of good points. Farm kids today can live in the modern world but still gain the work ethics, decision making and business skills of agriculture.

And unfortunately, they also learn early that life isn't fair and things don't always go the way you planned. That's a good lesson and an incredibly hard one to watch them experience.

We had a tough time recently that likely will stick with both of my girls. It's calving season, and anyone who's had cows knows that things can go wrong in a hurry. You can do everything right and it can still turn out wrong.

That was the case recently with my older daughter's cow Millie. A former bottle calf and former 4-H show heifer, Millie had — against our best intentions — become a bit of a pet. Too friendly to herd and too attached to our daughters to keep far from the house, she always got prime living conditions and plenty of feed, which was important to the mass of a cow that grew to at least 1,400 pounds. It's hard to remember the tiny, shivering white heifer I helped shepherd into the barn in a blizzard in 2022 when I think of the cow she became.

Millie had her first calf last year, a little black heifer that she had no trouble birthing and that she loved unconditionally. That little calf was licked clean every day and grew to look a good deal like her mama — though Winnie was somewhat unexpectedly a black calf out of a white Charolais-cross mama and a Red Angus bull. Since things turned out so well, Reanna chose to breed Millie the same for her second calf.

But this time, things didn't go well. Millie struggled in labor. Her calf — a big bull that looked just like Millie, according to my husband — was backwards. He didn't survive.

Later that night, Millie also took a turn for the worse. A talk with the vet confirmed that a hard pull of a breech calf could have led to a laceration. We gave antibiotics and tried to reduce swelling with ice. I gave her some corn, which she ate, though with less enthusiasm than usual. By morning, Millie was standing and drinking. We thought we were in the clear and planned to have her adopt another calf, a bit of a nod to her upbringing.

But by afternoon, Reanna and I went to the barn to check on her to find she had died.

In more than 40 years of ranch life, I don't know if I'd ever cried over the loss of a cow. But holding my daughters after Millie's death, we all shed some tears.

As my husband told our sobbing younger daughter, we'll never forget Millie. She was a one-of-a-kind cow. But even more, I'm sure my daughters will never forget the lessons they learned, both good and bad, from raising her.

We'll always remember her chasing and cuddling with the girls as a young calf and how she jumped from her pen at the fair that summer to roam the barn; how she went into heat on show day as a yearling and tossed Reanna around like a ragdoll, only to turn back into her normal friendly self the next day, letting the girls sit and lay on her; how she managed to get her halter off in tie outs at the barn but laid chewing her cud with just a neck rope on; how she'd push through my husband to get to the girls when they'd visit her in the corral; how she'd follow me around when I was checking cows; and her unique eating style of flinging silage everywhere after pushing other cows out of the way.

So, thank you, Millie, for the short years we had with you. Thank you for helping raise my daughters as they raised you.

They've learned to keep going through disappointments. Reanna will have one less calf to sell — a blow to her college savings — and one less cow to breed this summer, along with her grief over her pal. But the day after Millie's death, she was hard at work preparing Winnie to be her next show heifer. Life goes on, and so does her little herd, albeit one humongous cow short.

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South Dakota’s Pig Pals event gives youth with disabilities the experience of pig showing

Kennedy Tesch — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:00:00 GMT

HURON, S.D. — While the state fair is a busy time of year for many 4-H members and those involved in showing livestock, a number of members took time out of their fair this year to team up with the South Dakota Pork Producers Council to give individuals with disabilities the unique opportunity to show a pig during the annual Pig Pals event held Sept. 1 at the South State Fair in Huron, South Dakota.

Abbey Riemenschneider, director of programs and communication for the South Dakota Pork Producers Council, said the council partners with the South Dakota Special Olympics to invite all of their kids and families to the show. The kids are then paired with 4-H or FFA volunteers who show pigs and are able to spend some time with the animal in the back pens before showing.

“It is kind of intimidating going up to a 300-pound animal for the very first time in the middle of a show ring,” Riemenschneider said. “So we allow them to go back to their pen, get acquainted with that animal, and they can learn everything about what they do on a daily basis, what they feed them, how they get them trained to show.”

The participants and their families are then invited to the arena to watch a demonstration before they get to show on their own with the help of their volunteer partner.

“Then we bring in our showman. We let them go for about 10 to 15 minutes, so that way they have enough time with that animal,” Riemenschneider said. “Then we give them a prize for being here, because everyone has done such an amazing job that it's too hard to pick just one winner.”

While the event first started around three years ago at the South Dakota State Fair, it has grown with the event now also being hosted during the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“This event is solely just educating all of our community members about what we do in the industry, but also giving back to our communities, because not everyone gets the opportunity to go into a hog barn or even see the hogs outside of the fairgrounds, let alone show them,” Riemenschneider said. “So it's all about giving back to those kids and letting them have an experience that they would never otherwise have.”

Chesney Fuks, 13, is from Volga, South Dakota, and was a 4-H member volunteer for Pig Pals and enjoys being involved because she likes meeting new people and wants to help others have the same experience of showing pigs.

“We went and grabbed our pigs for the show. Then we talked to our partners, asked them if they had any questions or anything,” Fuks said. “But I just told her, you know what? It's not going to be perfect. If he doesn't listen, that's fine. It's just for fun.”

Adam Krause, president of the South Dakota Pork Producers Council, served as the judge for the show. Having grown up raising and showing pigs himself, he feels the event is a great opportunity for kids with intellectual disabilities to participate in a pig show and learn more about the pork industry.

“Not all of us have the same upbringings or the same opportunities, so it's just a great opportunity for kids that maybe live in town or say that intellectual disability is a hindrance, or maybe they don't have the the money or the resources or the place to keep that pig to get started, it's a great opportunity for them to just be hands on and experience that opportunity for one day,” Krause said.

Krause said that in South Dakota, the barns are full of great youth.

“It's always amazing for me to not only see the participants, but the volunteers that step up, too. It's one thing to be a master of a trade, but it's quite another to be able to add patience and education and be able to teach and share the knowledge, too,” he said. “I’m really impressed with our youth here at the South Dakota State Fair.”

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Quality runs deep at MYLE swine show

Noah Fish — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 14:00:00 GMT

AUSTIN, Minn. — Minnesota youth from across the state brought in high quality pigs to a venue known just for that.

The Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo Swine Show took place July 12 at the Mower County Fairgrounds in Austin, home to Hormel's National Barrow Show.

The first part of the fifth annual Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo was held June 27-30 at the Martin County Fairgrounds in Fairmont. That event featured over 2,000 entries by 4-H and FFA members from throughout Minnesota showcasing their beef, sheep, goats and rabbits. The expo, which allows exhibitors age 5 to 21 to show multiple animals and species, is run entirely by volunteers.

"There's a lot of stuff that goes on in the background," said Theresa St. Germain, an executive committee member of the Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo who also works full-time for Merck Animal Health and raises cattle with her husband and father-in-law. "We're all unpaid volunteers, and we love to do this for the kids."

Filling a void

Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo formed in 2020 in response to pandemic cancellations of county and state fairs. Its volunteer committee is made up of 25-30 members. St. Germain has been involved since its inception in the early days of the pandemic.

"We all know that time was a little bit trying, and we didn't want to have the kiddos lose out on an opportunity because at that time, a lot of them had their projects purchased for the year," St. Germain said. "It would have left them without any place to show off their talents, their skills and their hard work and determination."

She said the first year, the show was pulled together in two or three months.

Competitive swine

The Mower County Fairgrounds in Austin is known for being the site of the annual National Barrow Show, and it served as the perfect setting for the Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo's swine show, which showcased some of the state's best exhibitors.

The swine portion of the expo is headed by volunteers Brent and Julie Vorpagel, St. Germain said. The couple also serve on the committee for Minnesota Youth Swine Series, which they started to introduce a more competitive and engaging youth circuit for showing pigs. On the cattle side, there's the North Star Points Series, where points are also accumulated from a series of shows.

"It's a jackpot series, that a select group of shows are chosen around the state, and then you gather points and then they award high point exhibitors and entries at all those shows," St. Germain said of Minnesota Youth Swine Series.

St. Germain said many of the exhibitors competing in the swine series throughout the summer were at the Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo show, raising the bar for the weekend's competition.

"There's a lot of high-quality animals that will get exhibited here that have been at national shows national gilt shows," she said. "There's a junior national show going on right now, for the selective breeds, and many of them will be quite competitive there as well. So the quality runs deep here."

For a former show exhibitor (St. Germain said she used to compete in up to 15 shows a year), she said the events are as much about the networking as they are about the competition.

"I have contacts all across the country," she said. " We always say if you're traveling to a junior national or a national show like Louisville, Denver, anything like that, and you break down on the side of the road, it's not very far that you know someone that lives close that can rescue you."

Winning routine

Just before 6:30 a.m., 18-year-old Preston Welling of Paynesville, Minnesota, was checking on his pig while his dad, Matt, sat in a lawn chair drinking a Pepsi with a shirt that read

SHOW DAD

on the front.

"They're hungry," said Matt Welling, a district seed sales manager, to the squeals coming from the barn that was just beginning to fill up with pigs.

His son Preston will attend Oklahoma State University in the fall where he plans to study animal science.

"I'd like to be top five in showmanship and have my pigs place as well as they can," Preston said of his goals for the show on July 12.

He said his habits leading up to a show usually lead to good performances.

"It's little things that I work on at home and stuff that I have to focus on from week to week," he said. "Just knowing the position of where I am compared to the pig, and how I turn."

The focus also needs to be on the pig, he said.

"Pigs are super into their patterns, so we just have a schedule that you have to stick to," Preston said. "We're here at six because it works for us, and today, it's going to be super hot, so I figured walk and stuff early while it was still cool enough to get them out there."

Walking with Welling and gleaning some of his upper-class show wisdom was 10-year-old Colton Polzin from Darwin, Minnesota.

"I'm hoping to get first and win the class, and hopefully go up for breed," Colton said of his goals for the show. "Hopefully top five, but (his pig) is really little, and some of these are Januarys and Decembers."

Polzin said before a show day, his pig starts feeding at 2 a.m. and eats consistently until its time to walk in the ring.

"If she's really full then I have a better chance," Polzin said.

A competitive vacation

Matt Welling said he used to show pigs as a kid, but the events were nothing like what his son is competing in this summer through the Minnesota Youth Swine Series, which hosted three of its 13 events at the Mower County Fairgrounds this year.

"It works just like NASCAR," Welling said. "You go around to the shows, say 12 or however you want, but only your best seven shows count towards your overall points."

For the Welling family, it's like a vacation almost every weekend.

"Some people go the lake in the summertime," he said. "We show animals."

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Bemidji’s Lily Krona selected for ‘The Herd’ program to showcase love of agriculture

Charley Gilbert — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 12:15:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — As a recent addition to “The Herd” program, Lily Krona is using her social media platform to give the public an authentic perspective on the world of agriculture.

“My goal is to tour farms around Minnesota and highlight those on my social media pages,” shared Krona, a Bemidji High �� graduate. “I want to give people the real picture of what a farm is like.”

In its second year, the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation’s The Herd program selects young adults from 18 to 23 to educate the public about agriculture through the use of social media.

Krona’s heavy involvement in agricultural clubs, leadership and curriculum writing has prepared her for The Herd program. She is looking forward to using her platform to give an authentic perspective about the world of agriculture.

“The Minnesota Farm Bureau has started this program for college-age students to help them showcase agriculture in a positive light using social media,” Krona said. “Sometimes agriculture can kind of get a bad light from people, and once that starts it's hard to break that, but we're trying to just spread more positivity on agriculture and show the real picture of it.”

The Minnesota Farm Bureau is a state-wide organization with representatives from each county and several chapters. When Krona heard that the Bureau was interested in opening a collegiate program, she was eager to be a part of it.

“I jumped right on that opportunity and I started the first collegiate program in Crookston, the state of Minnesota,” Krona shared. “I'm excited to see how our program grows. And hopefully, it spreads to other universities and colleges around the state.”

Krona was one of four selected, along with Aly Dieball, Katelyn Kobbermann and Mary Lanoue. They meet on Zoom monthly to talk about their posts and what they have been working on.

“We get together to talk about what we have learned,” Krona said. “We will get to meet with other agricultural representatives that work on social media from around the country. Hopefully, throughout the year we’ll get to meet with them and get advice on how to grow our pages.”

Members of The Herd are able to use their platform to showcase their love of agriculture. It is an opportunity for educational experiences, networking, learning from professionals and communication-building. One goal of Krona’s is to educate people on a better understanding of what agriculture is.

“Agriculture entails so much, it's crazy,” Krona explained. “When I first started, I thought of animals and maybe a couple of fields, but now I realize it is way beyond that. So much is encompassed in the world of agriculture, like all of the clothes you wear, the food you eat, everything in your life is based around agriculture.”

Student leadership

Krona is a senior at University of Minnesota - Crookston majoring in agricultural education and serves in multiple leadership positions for clubs on campus.

“I'm president of two clubs this year and I've been on the board of, like, six or seven clubs the last two years,” Krona shared. “I am the president of the collegiate Farm Bureau and I’m one of the co-presidents of UMC Arama.”

In her various roles, she helps organize events for public outreach, hosts meetings and creates new ideas to get students involved.

There are many paths within agriculture that Krona feels can pursue as she gains more experience in the field. Currently, she would like to be a high school agriculture teacher but is also interested in being an extension educator in a 4-H program or working for the Farm Bureau one day.

“It’s important to make sure that the public is more informed, which is kind of why I chose agriculture education as a career,” Krona explained. “That's why I'm excited about The Herd, so I can showcase my love of agriculture.”

Until Krona settles on a specific career path after she graduates, she will continue to share her passion for agriculture including correcting misconceptions about agriculture.

“There's a lot of the misconception that farmers don't treat their animals right,” she said. “But in reality, if the farmers don't treat their animals right, they're not going to perform or produce anything. So it's just kind of like informing the public that these dairy cows are treated like queens. They are milked for 14 minutes a day total. And then the rest of the time is spent eating and laying down and resting — it's fun to inform people about that.”

Team Future Generation

In 2018 and 2019, Krona participated in the 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge with her Team Future Generation partners Theresa Gustafson and Haley Mouser. They won first place at state both years.

“Our first time competing we realized that there was no curriculum for third through fifth grade students on GMOs, so we wanted to battle that head-on,” Krona explained. “We put together some curriculum and videos and we taught that around the area.”

Their success gave them the opportunity to travel and contribute to multiple agricultural groups.

“We went to a couple of agro-women conferences, and our own Beltrami County Fair Board,” Krona said. “We also went to Washington, D.C., for the 4-H Agri-Science Summit and we were able to work with Minnesota 4-H to talk about the science of the agriculture challenge.”

The following year they worked on a project with gene editing for the same age group of students.

“I think overall with our project we reached over 800 students,” Krona recalled. “It was a really cool opportunity to share our experience.”

Krona added that she was heavily influenced by Ann Marie Ward, who was the Extension Educator in Beltrami County for most of her 4-H career.

“She inspired me to do so many things,” Krona said. “And still now, she pushes me to get out of my comfort zone and try new things. My freshman year of college she texted me, ‘Hey I think you should join this program and I paid for your first membership fee.’”

She credits Ward for influencing her career path and having the confidence to try new things.

“I’ve been inspired to keep going and she has pushed me out of my comfort zone to try new things,” Krona left off. “The Herd program is something that she told me I should try doing and now that I’m doing it I’m really enjoying it. I honestly owe everything to her.”

Follow Lily's journey on Instagram @experiencing_ag_with_lily.

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Want to build up the future of agriculture? Support your county fair premium sale

Jenny Schlecht — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 10:30:00 GMT

Friday of our county fair features beef cattle shows — breeding, market and showmanship — as well as a special recognition event for kids who show beef breeding animals and the 4-H premium sale. In all, my older daughter showed four times on Friday, followed by walking her heifer through the breeding animal recognition and one of her steers in the premium sale. My younger daughter, in the Cloverbud program, showed once. It's a long, but special, day, capped off by the big event for the kids with market animals — the premium sale.

This year's sale featured high prices pretty across the board through every species. But I was reminded how you often can kind of tell the farm kids from the kids who aren't so connected to the farm based on the prices the animals bring.

Being a farm kid, we always had plenty of ag businesses to invite to the sale when I was growing up. During one particularly memorable sale, an employee of our farm co-op, on orders to buy "Jeff's kid's sheep," got into a bidding war with our ag banker, who had fun running up the price after realizing the co-op wasn't going to back down. My sheep ended up among the most expensive that year, and I couldn't stop grinning. Similarly, my daughter had one of the top-priced steers this year after a similar bidding war among ag businesses that we frequent.

It makes a ton of sense for ag businesses to support their customers' kids at premium sales. Not only is it good for building relationships and loyalty with the current customers, but it's also a good-will gesture toward the customers of tomorrow.

Now I'd like to put out a pitch for business — ag and otherwise — to consider supporting not just those well-connected farm kids at the premium sale but also the kids without those connections.

We talk a lot in agriculture about how we make up a tiny fraction of the general population. The agriculture community is aging — rapidly — and concerns persist about building up the next generation. But where, oh where, do you find the next generation of people who want to work in agriculture?

The premium sale at your local county fair would be a good place to start.

Along with those farm kids who you know at least by last name, there also are kids who have an obvious interest in livestock and agriculture, just by being at the fair, but who don't have parents frequenting traditional ag businesses. Maybe their grandparents farm or farmed or maybe they've developed the interest in showing all on their own. However they ended up showing, their months of work to train and clean and feed and clean again their animals shows that they may very well be the future of agriculture.

Maybe they'll farm or ranch. Maybe they'll work on a farm or ranch. Or maybe they'll be agronomists or ag bankers or salespeople or veterinarians or mechanics or ag scientists or fill any of the multitude of jobs that everyone worries about going unfilled in the future.

So, by all means, keep bidding on your customers' animals. But, in the interest of growing that next generation, consider bidding on the animal of someone you don't recognize, too. You might be helping out your next employee or someone who, even if they don't end up working in ag, can carry the experience with their livestock with them and be a solid consumer advocate for agriculture.

Next time you're at a fair, go through the barns and get to know the kids. Learn about their ambitions. Watch them work. I think the future of agriculture is in good hands.

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Minnesota dairy cow exhibitors scurry to get cows tested before show time

Michael Johnson — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 19:38:59 GMT

WADENA, Minn. — The Wadena County Fair kicked off on Wednesday, June 19, and Kami Hoemberg was as busy as ever trying to get her show animals checked in and ready for a few days of work and play.

She’s an expert at showing livestock at age 15 because she’s been doing this since she was 4. But a bit of a wrench was thrown into the mix this year.

Kami found out on June 13 that in order to show her prized milk cow, Heather, she’d have to quickly find a vet, who would have to take a milk test, deliver it to a lab and get a negative H5N1 test back before she could trailer her cow into the fairgrounds six busy days later.

The requirement came through from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health in an effort to limit the spread of the H5N1 virus among dairy cows and was effective June 18. Per the requirement, all lactating (currently producing milk) dairy cows must have both a negative H5N1 test result and a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection to attend any exhibition in Minnesota. The virus has been reported in 102 dairy herds across 12 states since late March, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Three dairy farm workers have also contracted the virus.

“While H5N1 influenza in dairy cases are still being studied across the country, initial insights show milk and the udders are a hotspot for influenza virus on infected cows, which makes showing lactating dairy at events a higher risk,” said Senior Veterinarian of Cattle Programs Dr. Katie Cornille in a news release. “Requiring a negative test before an exhibition reduces that risk.”

University of Minnesota Extension educator for Wadena County Kim Dailey works with the 4-H families closely, and as soon as she was notified of the new requirement she began making calls to the nine dairy families planning to show at the fair the following week. Wadena County is one of just three counties in the state having their fairs the same week that the new requirement went into effect. Others include Morrison and Norman counties.

Kami’s cow, Heather, comes from Amy and Ryan Roller’s farm, Red Root Holsteins, near Hewitt, Minnesota. Kami is their niece. The Rollers considered having their kids show a milk cow, but with the tight turnaround for testing, they opted out this year.

Brittani Oyster, Bertha-Hewitt �� ag teacher and a mother of 4-H youths, said their family wasn’t planning on bringing a milk cow to show this year either. They made that decision prior to new requirements coming into place. The Oyster family recently returned from the 2024 Minnesota State Holstein Show June 11-15 at the Stearns County Fairgrounds in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Oyster noted a significant decrease in dairy showings this year. She attributes that to the concerns over the H5N1 virus.

“There were definitely a lot of people that did not bring their cows for that fear,” Oyster said.

Dailey was hopeful that all families would be able to get testing done in time for showing but also had her concerns knowing how hard the youth had prepared for the fair. Normally, animals are to be checked in on Wednesday, but exhibitors were given a variance that as long as they had a negative test prior to 9 a.m. on Friday, they could still get in.

“Our only issue this week is going to be the timing. We just have such a quick turnaround,” Dailey said. Dailey was told it takes 12-36 hours to get test results back. "I'm optimistic, that's all I can be."

Hoemberg said one of the big concerns for her when she heard about the requirement was making sure they could get a veterinarian to visit quickly. They had one over the next morning to administer the test. Confirmation of a negative test didn't come until Wednesday morning after Cami had done all her trimming and prep work to make sure Heather was ready for showing.

The negative test was expected, yet a relief, as Kami had to work quickly to get all her animals in a row. She’ll be at center stage at 9 a.m. Friday for the dairy show, showing Heather for the third time, and showing livestock for the 11th year in a row.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health reported that H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was confirmed in a Benton County dairy herd on June 6. It was the first positive test in Minnesota. The Board asks dairy farmers to closely monitor their herd and contact their veterinarian immediately if cows appear sick. The Board reports any new detections and updates on cow cases in Minnesota on its website.

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Quadricentennial dairy show in Dodge County celebrates 400 years of dairy cows in North America

Noah Fish — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:30:00 GMT

KASSON, Minn. — A Triton High �� graduate is putting on a show to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the dairy cow arriving to the Plymouth Colony.

The dairy show is open to all Minnesota FFA members to compete, and will take place June 6 and 7 at the Dodge County Fairgrounds in Kasson.

Day one of the event will feature a showmanship contest in the afternoon followed by a burger meal and awards ceremony. Day two will showcase Holstein and other breeds shows and Supreme Drive. So far, the event has around 30 students scheduled to participate and around 70 animals.

Manager of the show is Cadence Spearman, a graduating senior from Triton High ��. The show is Spearman's senior project, which is required of all the school's graduates to give practical experience in a career field they are interested in.

"I decided to do a youth dairy show dedicated to FFA members in the state of Minnesota," Spearman said. "I have a passion for the dairy industry, and would love to get back to it since it's given so much to me."

Spearman got the idea to put on a youth show from her FFA advisor, Robert Ickler.

"I wanted to do something with dairy cattle, and I wanted to do something with the FFA group, so he kind of pitched the idea to me of, 'Should we do a show?'" Spearman said of Ickler. "He was kind of an inspiration in that way."

Ickler was also the impetus for the title of the show, which came from a fact in the University of Minnesota’s 4-H knowledge manual, which the state's FFA members use to prepare for dairy Career Development Events.

"The idea came from studying with my dairy team three years ago, when they were getting ready for state competition," Ickler said of the group which included Spearman. "One of those trivia questions is, what year did the dairy cow come to Plymouth Colony? And that was 1624."

For Spearman — who has spent most of her life showing animals — planning the event has been "stressful" at times.

"I've never really realized how hard it was to plan a show," she said. "This project kind of humbled me and has been a source of appreciating what all these people do for these youth, and these organizations."

She credited the small businesses and communities of West Concord, Dodge Center and Claremont for helping to raise $12,000 to help put on the show.

Spearman put together a website and advertisements for the show, which she said was also a new learning experience for her.

"That's another thing I gained from this project, as well as software design, advertisement, communications, directing, presiding over meetings — all the things that you can get from FFA, that I kind of strengthened with this senior project," Spearman said.

Spearman works at Gochnauer Farms owned by Jacob and Megan Gochnauer, and she said without them, she wouldn't have the love that she does for dairy cows. The family is also supporting the event by supplying food for the Thursday dinner.

"I owe it to these guys, Gochnauer Farms, for getting me into this industry at such a young age and just paving the way, because if I wouldn't have started here, I wouldn't be doing this project right now," said Spearman, who grew up on a pork, beef and crop farm. "I got into dairy when I was about 13 years old."

At the end of summer, Spearman will depart for South Dakota State University where she'll be majoring in animal science with a minor in communications.

"I don't know what career the future holds for me, but it's something in agriculture, and something that's going to help out the farmers," she said.

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Deer Lake Flyers 4-H Club donates turkeys to Bemidji Community Food Shelf

Pioneer Staff Report — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 16:00:00 GMT

The Deer Lake Flyers 4-H Club recently donated 26 turkeys to the Bemidji Community Food Shelf.

As part of its annual service project, the club applied for a Food Partner Challenge grant through the state 4-H program and received $500 to purchase turkeys for the Bemidji Community Food Shelf at Thanksgiving time, a release said.

The award program funds 4-H clubs and county/tribal 4-H programs to partner with a local food shelf or nutrition organization to organize a healthy food or essential supply donation or drive in their community.

"We found out that we are the only donors who provide turkeys, so the fact that we could donate more this year than past years was great," Club Leader Shelly Gilbertson said in the release.

Beltrami County currently has 11 4-H community clubs, and all of them regularly participate in community service learning projects. To join 4-H, visit extension.umn.edu/minnesota-4-h or call the Beltrami County Extension office at (218) 444-5722.

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Buying a 4-H beef heifer on your 16th birthday

Katie Pinke — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:30:00 GMT

What do you buy a teenager turning 16 years old? The only gifts I remember from my teen years from my parents were luggage "to go to college" and a tent — my dad said, "So you'll never be homeless."

I brainstormed new ideas last month for our daughter Elizabeth's pending 16th birthday with my husband as we flew to Tucson, Arizona, on Thanksgiving Day to spend the holiday with our son. Our youngest daughter traveled with us, and my parents were already there.

Elizabeth stayed home with my grandma as she had high school basketball practice to attend after the holiday. She feasted on the meal I prepared ahead for her to warm up, and she baked two pecan pies with my Grandma Nola's recipe in her farmhouse kitchen.

Following the Thanksgiving feast, Elizabeth deer hunted with my cattleman uncle, Jim. While she didn't fill her deer tag, she also brainstormed her 16th birthday present with Jim.

When we arrived home on Sunday from our quick Arizona holiday, Elizabeth presented her birthday idea. On her 16th birthday, Dec. 9, there was a Hereford sale from which she planned to purchase a heifer with my uncle's insight and help. She knew the amount of money in her savings account and had a specific amount she wanted to allocate toward the purchase.

Would her father and I contribute towards the 4-H beef heifer purchase on her 16th birthday? she asked.

Elizabeth, Nathan, younger sister Anika and I discussed a budget. The top heifer in the sale we agreed would go for more than Elizabeth (and we) were prepared to pay. But she wanted to aim for another one, possibly the second best, my uncle thought, in the sale.

Non-livestock Nathan said he gets nervous transporting such expensive animals. Anika cut a smile realizing that her dad may not have realized in the past how much we've spent on 4-H animals and then confessing how much her bred cow was purchased for last fall. Yes, we talked to him about it, but it may not have stuck.

Then we all talked about the "why" behind our support of our girls and their 4-H beef projects and engagement.

We're not active farmers or ranchers. We have other small businesses. Our family members do actively farm and ranch, and we want our girls to know, understand and learn agriculture.

Then Elizabeth said, "And our cattle can help us pay for college when we don't have any other money!"

And so it was, on Elizabeth's 16th birthday, she, with two of my uncles' assistance and direction, bought the heifer she wanted. It was a snowy day that didn't allow for travel, but the cattle sale was online.

When she shared the total purchase price, she pointed out it was under the budget we set, and she was paying a majority of the cost from her savings for a new 4-H beef project for 2024.

As an additional gift for her birthday, non-livestock Nathan drove to the farm, picked up my uncle's pickup and trailer and drove to pick up the heifer and bring it home. He may not raise livestock himself but Nathan is a dad who loves to see joy in our kids and supports their passions, even if different than his own.

We will always remember Elizabeth's 16th birthday heifer purchase — different than most girls' wish lists for their Sweet 16. Watching our kids grow their passion and develop life skills by engaging in agriculture fills me with joy this dark winter season, thinking ahead to the warmer days of spring and early summer when our girls will be in the thick of beef project preparations and county fair showing. The sweetness of each season, and birthday, I appreciate.

Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at kpinke@agweek.com, or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.]]>

Beltrami County 4-H’ers participate in Minnesota 4-H State Horse Show

Pioneer Staff Report — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 15:32:00 GMT

ST. PAUL — Beltrami County 4-H'ers participated in the Minnesota 4-H State Horse show on Sept. 15-18 and brought home three state titles as they showed their riding skills in Western and English styles along with their knowledge of horses and teamwork in various competitions.

The three state championship winners were Emma Mutnansky in Showmanship, Madison Fisher in Barrels and Bella Drevlow in Western Pleasure.

This year, 608 youth from across the state participated in the annual event at the Minnesota State Fair. 4-H’ers demonstrated their skills and knowledge in hippology, horse judging, horse training and achievement, speech and demonstrations about interest in horses or the horse industry, showmanship and drill team skills.

There were also over 600 horses at the state show along with youth representing 79 counties where 4-H'ers of all ages gathered to compete for the nine state titles to be awarded for the main riding divisions.

Youth who participate in the Minnesota 4-H Horse Project learn about show, trail and endurance riding along with testing their horse knowledge at quiz bowls or on judging teams and study horse science. In addition to caring for their horses daily, these kids practice year-round.

All youth may participate if they own or lease a horse, but there are even options for youth who are interested in horses, but don’t have access to one in their community.

“Through the Minnesota 4-H State Horse Show, youth build communications skills, gain deeper learning and interest in horses, and build relationships with caring adults,” Renee Kostick, Extension Educator and 4-H Horse Project Manager said in a release. “These experiences contribute to their success in school, community, and futures.”

To learn more about the Minnesota 4-H Horse Project, contact local extension educator Frankie Mord at (218) 444-5722 and visit the website at extension.umn.edu/4-h-projects/4-h-horse-project.

State fair results

Morgan Mellema: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion.

Dream Davis: KeyHole third in grade level, Horsemanship 9th in grade level.

McKenzie Hanevold: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion.

Ruthie Webber: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion.

Madison Fisher: Barrels first in grade level and State Champion, Keyhole first in grade level, Poles second in grade level.

Wendy Mellema: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion, Hunt Seat Equitation first in grade level, Horsemanship fourth in grade level, Western Pleasure fifth in grade level, Step 4 Horse Training fifth place, Hunt Seat Pleasure sixth in grade level, Showmanship sixth in grade level.

Bella Drevlow: Western Pleasure first in grade level and State Champion Hunt Seat Pleasure second in grade level, Hippology Team Problem third place, Hunt Seat Equitation fifth in grade level, Showmanship seventh in grade level, Horsemanship eighth in grade level, Trail 10th place.

Isabell Karvakko: Sept 3 Horse Training second place.

Della Branham: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion, Jumping Figure 8 10th in grade level.

Chloe Cook: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion, Poles 3rd in grade level, Barrels 4th in grade level, KeyHole 10th in grade level.

Meleah Grundmeier: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion.

Kallen Littler: KeyHole 1st in grade level, Hippology Team Problem third, Poles fourth in grade level, Jumping Figure 8 fourth in grade level, Barrels sixth in grade level, Showmanship 10th in grade level, Interview Finalist.

Emma Mutnansky: Showmanship first in grade level and State Champion, Hippology Individual first place, Trail second place, Hunt Seat Equitation second in grade level, Hippology Team Problem third place, Hunt Seat Pleasure fourth in grade level, Western Pleasure fourth in grade level, Horsemanship fifth in grade level, Interview Finalist.

Taylor Hanevold: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion.

Emily Christensen: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion.

Kenna Cook: Drill Team Large Freestyle State Champion, Jumping Figure 8 first in grade level, KeyHole first in grade level, Barrels second in grade level.

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