The Good and The Bad I Learned From Raising a 4-H Animal

I stumbled across this article on my newsfeed the other day, and thought as a person who has been through the 4-H program for nine years and continues to help others be involved, I would share my perspective of raising a 4-H project.

A few key words come to mind when I look back at the years I spent in 4-H: Responsibility, Respect, Trust, Hardship. All of these stem from the education I got from my 4-H project.

This young boy is watering his pigs

Responsibility. Raising a hog, sheep or calf from a young age takes an everyday commitment. These animals have to be fed and watered, have their pens cleaned on a daily basis, and washed by hand (sometimes twice or three times). For me, this meant heading to the barn before school, before any of my classmates were up, and tending to my beloved animals. I can still remember the days of hiking up the hill to the barn in the dark and rain with my sister to feed our steers, and give them a scratch as they came to the fence. 


We are our animals' caretakers and they trust us to do what is right.

Trust. I learned that with each year, you have to form a bond with your animal. Pigs may be one of the smartest animals I know, and it takes hours upon hours to build a relationship with them. As a little girl, I would sit in the shavings in the pen as the piglets began to chew on my boots. As the relationship grew, I would take them on walks around the field, training them for the show ring. By the time the show rolls around, there is a true partnership that exists between you and your pig. They trust you to lead them in the right direction, and vice versa.


This sow has a lot of mouths to feed!

Hardship. For every proud moment that you share with these animals, there are equally as many hardships. I remember my first litter of piglets when I was 5 years old. I was so excited to see 12 little piglets running around. But I also got to see Mother Nature’s work as well. Two of the piglets were squished by the sow and I remember the helpless feeling as there was nothing I could do to save them. That was my first lesson in  “letting nature take its course.” Another time a neighbor brought a bummer lamb over for us to bottle-feed.  Nothing makes a little girl happier than having a baby lamb to bottle feed in her house. But once again, after a week of caring for the small animal, its body gave up on it one day. At a very young age I had experienced death of an animal I cared deeply for.

I will admit that the author of the article was right about one thing. We are forced to harden a piece of our hearts.  But from that comes growth and learning.  What can we do in the future to prevent these hardships? What has to occur due to nature? However, I also realize the amount of work that goes in to producing a quality product that will feed a family. I understand where my food comes from.

Through my time in 4-H my animals taught me more about real life than a classroom ever has. Yes, I will admit getting that champion ribbon is always fun. But it’s the life skills of responsibility, trust and hardship that will continue to drive my passion for agriculture, and a passion to teach other youth the same lessons as well.

Until next time,
Kiah

Draft Day: Agriculture Picks Kids in the First Round.

If you think that the recent announcement by the United States Department of Labor to drop its proposed legislation aimed at severely limiting the activities of kids on farms and ranches is solely a major win for agriculture you're forgetting that if someone wins, someone also loses.

That loser is anti-agriculture. While not frontline proponents of these proposed rules, you can bet that they were licking their chops in hopes that the Obama administration would get them shoved through.  The reason they had their pom poms out and cheerleading skirts on is simple: whenever the gap between producers and consumers gets bigger, they score. It is pivotal for their team's survival to maintain a large gap between producers and consumers.  Had the rule gone through, farmers and ranchers would have lost a major player for telling the true story of agriculture, our youth. Getting hands on experience in day-to-day operations of farms and ranches is vital for teaching kids a myriad of life lessons including responsibility, hard work, and trust not just the tangible skills of driving a tractor or pulling a calf, all of which seem to be an endangered species in today's society.  Kids take these lessons and skills from the farm and share them with the rest of America.  Groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recognize the power of youth to influence the outcomes of both the present and the future and have developed programs the implement their ideologies for children and teachers alike.

However, if anti-Ag was looking for a close game, they were surely disappointed.  With a stellar performance from our star running backs like Senators Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts along with the hard work of many industry groups and individual farmers and ranchers, DOL dropped the rule and announced that is has no intention of pursuing it further during the Obama administration.  Instead they will focus on the development of educational programs to increase safety for kids in agriculture. Everyone that submitted comments, wrote letters, testified, or tweeted about the rule to increase awareness deserves a pat on the back was and integral part of chalking up another "W".

- DJ