4-H clubs have remained a big part of the PNE for over 100 years
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 01:21:15 +0000
Buster, a beauty of a lamb right out of the pages of a children’s book, took first prize at the 4-H livestock show on the opening weekend of the Fair at the PNE this year, an achievement that earned him a second prestigious honour Monday at auction.
The five-month-old lamb was born March 21 and cared for ever since by Brianna Morrison, 11, of Kamloops. The member of the 4 Corners 4-H club in Kamloops helped at Buster’s birth and has made it her mission since to prepare and groom the lamb to compete at the PNE’s agriculture show, the largest one for the Fraser Valley.
Buster, with his shorn coat and black legs and head, impressed the judges and earned Brianna the top prize in the market lamb category. She said he was the perfect weight, between 118 and 120 pounds, but her secret was “the way I fed him. He got three pounds of grain every day and a little bit of hay.”
The judges can tell by looking at the animal whether it will provide good chops and roasts. In Buster’s case, he had the right amount of fat cover and a long and wide loin, and “he’s got a pretty big leg,” said Brianna.
The Grade 7 student confidently led Buster around a ring set up between two sets of bleachers at the Coliseum on Monday, a day when the fair is closed to the public. An auctioneer led the bidding and the PNE’s agriculture manager did what the PNE’s been doing for as long as she can remember, she bid on the champion lamb.
“She’s a beautiful lamb and she (Brianna) showed it really well, she’s obviously very knowledgeable,” said agriculture manager Christie Kerr, after her winning $12-per-pound bid for Buster, which is higher than retail. The PNE bids for the top lamb (or pig in alternating years) as a way to show support for the 4-H kids and to support agriculture, said Kerr. She said 4-H kids, who are between nine and 19 years old, use their winnings to save for their education, add to their savings or buy themselves something.
“You’re investing in the children. And you’re getting a perfect animal,” she said.
The PNE will have the lamb butchered before delivering it to a charity, such as food bank, said Kerr.
Kerr said the 4-H festival is a chance to champion agriculture, when “it’s become a sensitive topic, especially in the current climate” of a trend toward plant-based foods. Earlier this month, for instance, a UN report on land use and climate change said the West’s high consumption of meat and dairy produce is fuelling global warming and said more people could be fed using less land if individuals cut down on meat.
Kerr said 4-H is about more than livestock competitions and more about preparing young people to be engaged leaders. The B.C. and Yukon has more than 2,200 members in more than 100 4-H (head, heart, hands, health) clubs. About two-thirds are girls and 80 per cent are from farms or rural areas. The clubs prepare young people for community leadership roles through various activities, not exclusively livestock-related.
But it remains the most visible part. The PNE’s barns were still busy Monday, the last day for 4-H activity at the PNE.
Kelty Brady, 10, and her brother, Jackson, were showing their family farm’s sheep and beef at the PNE. Kelty picked up prizes for “supreme champion” for a female in the lamb division and an award for best-in-show for Georgia, in the breeding cattle division.
Morgan Jeffries, 14, who won a prize for Emmett, a 15-month-old market steer, said some of the 4-H members, herself included, will choose livestock as a career, starting their own herds or taking over the family ranch.
But Brianna said she’s going to be a lawyer, and for now, will continue to raise lambs and sell them to market. Each one that she raises gets easier to let go.
“I’m not that attached (to Buster),” she said. “But still, it’s sad. And I’m not eating him.”