4-H’ers and pet projects go to fair

Really Rad 4-H Club members Anna and Max Mullin will show ducks and goats at the Greene County Fair next week. Their donkey will have to wait until next year’s fair.

By Virgil Hervey

Imagine a llama named Isabel dressed up as a fairy or a chicken whose only goal in its short life has been to get as fat as it can in 12 weeks. Chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, chinchillas, heifers and llamas, just to mention a few, will predominate as local 4-H members head for the Greene County Fair this weekend, reminding the village of its rural side. We may think of ourselves as an island of culture in a sea of cornfields and cow pastures, but 4-H clubs abound around town. The fair will be held from July 29 to Aug. 4.

The newest club in the area, the Really Rad 4-H’ers, was started in March by club advisor Caroline Mullin. Mullin’s two children, Anna, 9, and Max, 11, raise ducks and goats on their farm on State Route 370. Anna also has two chinchillas and the family recently purchased a baby miniature donkey that will have to wait until next year to be shown at the fair.

Numbering about 17 kids, most of the Really Rad club will be showing an animal or displaying a project for the first time this year. Ranging in age from 5–12 years, the kids are nervous and excited about the fair.

They will bring their animals down to the fairgrounds in Xenia on Saturday, July 29, the day before the fair opens to the public. They will have to keep their pens and cages clean and the animals fed and watered all week long. Part of the scoring is based on how well the kids do at caring for their animals. According to Mullin, if they haven’t kept their cages clean, the kids can lose points even before the judging of the animals begins.

In addition to learning the discipline it takes to care for animals, the kids run their own clubs and are responsible for following the 4-H rules.

“I really love that 4-H has taught the kids that they can run things,” Mullin said.

Club member Ursula Brogan, 12, will be showing her rabbit Velveteen and a llama named Isabel.

“I’m scared, but excited,” she said about her first appearance at the fair.

On Friday, Aug. 4, at 6 p.m., Brogan and the llama will be taking part in the Llama, Alpaca and Goat Fun Show, which she called a “dress-up contest,” where the animal and the handler wear matching costumes. In this case, both Brogan and Isabel will be dressed as flower fairies. They will also participate in a relay race, she said.

Fellow member Tom Amrhein, 9, will be showing a mini-lop rabbit named Meadow. He wasn’t sure, he said, but he didn’t think he would have to walk the rabbit around a show ring.

“I think it’ll just stay in its cage,” he said.

Max Mullin has entered two goats, Evan and Sugar. They are only four months old and are being shown in the meat goat category. He said he is excited about his first fair.

There will be a market rabbit, goat and lamb sale on Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 5:30 p.m., where the Mullins will be selling off most of their goats.

Max’s sister Anna will be showing four 12-week-old Swedish Blue ducks and one chinchilla.

Club members Mary and Fielding Lewis and Cecila Comerford have been raising chickens for the poultry contest in the broiler category. The strict rules of the contest provide that the chickens are to be purchased on the same date from the same source and then fattened up until the day of the judging. The biggest chicken wins!

Comerford, 9, has been raising 10 leghorns for 12 weeks on a diet of Turkey starter, because its high protein content is more likely to put pounds on faster. She will show her three biggest, which are in the 3–4 pound range, she said. She is also doing a family geneology project, about which she is more nervous. 4-H judges a number of different creative and educational projects hat do not involve raisingg animals.

According to Comerford’s mother Christy, you have to be careful not to get the chickens too fat, or else they will be considered roasters.

Kreative Kids is another 4-H club in the area, with kids from Clifton, Cedarville, and Xenia, as well as Yellow Springs. Member Megan Hammond, 14, will be showing two heifers and her sister Rachel, 10, is entering two non-animal projects, one on Ohio birds and the other, called “exploring the outdoors,” is related to the environment.

The oldest club in Yellow Springs, started about 50 years ago, is the Husky Hustlers, which has 43 members. The club, which is co-advised by Jan Amstutz and Bonita Pence, is predominantly a large animal club, however the kids who live in town show smaller animals and exhibit non-animal projects.

Pence’s son Austin, 14, will show market steers, a dairy heifer, two beef breeding cows, feeder calves and a market hog.

“We will be living there from Friday on,” Pence said of the family’s plans to park a camper at the fairgrounds. “We camp out and make a mini-vacation out of it.”

Other Hustlers will be competing in basic horsemanship, sewing and camera projects, and showing chickens, turkeys, llamas and goats.

The complete schedule for the Greene County Fair is available on the Internet at greenecountyfairgrounds.com.

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com