It’s going to be an exciting weekend for the members of the Wheatland West 4-H Club. This Friday, June 3rd the club will be hosting their annual show and sale at the Rockyford Rodeo Grounds.

The Wheatland West 4-H Club is made up of kids from the Cheadle Beef and Sheep club, Rockyford Beef, and Standard Sheep 4-H clubs.

We spoke with Johanne Lawn from the Rockyford Beef Club about the excitement for some of the new kids getting to the sale.

“We do have a couple of first-timers and I think it's a bit of excitement and nerves for them.”

“They’re excited to do it, but a little worried about how it might go, how their steer might behave because at home it’s a lot different than how it can be had a different location,” she explained.

She said the show is something that everybody is looking forward to and that sometimes in preparation for the big show clubs hold mini-shows.

“We start in November feeding our calves so that time is spent getting to know them, halter break them and feed them it's kind of like excitement and relief for some of the older ones as well,” she said.

Leading up to the sale is a big accomplishment for the members of the West Wheatland 4-H Club and each member gets to see their animal sold and keep the funds.

“That is their hard work paying off, we try to encourage as many buyers to come and help potentially raise that price,” said Lawn.

“It’s a lot of work for the kids. It's daily chores and halter breaking them when they weigh these calves in, they can weigh up to 800 pounds and you're halter breaking an 800-pound calf,” she said.

“And then teaching it to lead, it's a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work, and they work really hard for that final show and just being there proudly showing their animal, it's great to see the community come together and the kids partaking in something that teaches so much and can go many places just by having that 4-H experience,” she said.

In addition to the show, at the sale the sheep club will be auctioning off a charity lamb. Each year the club chooses to support a different charity organization. Lawn explained that the lamb is typically sold, and then put up for bid over and over again to raise funds for the charity of choice.

The West Wheatland 4-H Club’s show begins at 10 a.m. followed by lunch at 1 and the sale at 2 p.m.

 

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