Robeson County 4-H

 Below is the report filed by club reporter Kierin Hatcher.  It is an update of the Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardener 4-H club's last meeting.

There were rides, cotton candy, games and families everywhere. It definitely had all the signs of the North Carolina State Fair . For some lucky 4-H members it, was much more, it was the pinnacle of animal science competitions. Benjamin Herndon travelled to the state fair with his parents, lambs, goats, and turkey. This is not Benjamin's first time at the state fair but it is his first time showing turkey's. According to the state rules the turkey's much weigh at least 20 pounds to compete (not an easy task when you get your turkey in August). Wellington, Benjamin's turkey, weighed in at 44 pounds. Not exactly light when you think about it. Especially when you have to get your bird out of a cage, carry it upside down to the waiting area, wait with it (mind you Wellington waited quite patiently with his feet on the ground and did not waddle anywhere) then carry it in and keep it from flapping away while you sit on a hay bale. Benjamin was in heat 5 of the com...

   Strengthening Families is a program developed by Cooperative Extension in Iowa.  The seven week program allows families with children between the ages of 9-14 to work together to strengthen communication, give them tools to talk about tough subjects, and bring the families together in those sensitive tween years.     Tonight we started our series with three families which have five children.  Traditionally on the first night we have dinner, break into two groups (adult and youth), and start breaking the ice and learning about the program.  After the breakout session the families come together to practice using the tools they received during the breakout sessions.  As part of that we played human knot and other team building games to make sure everyone had a chance to start working together.   Thanks to United Way funding we are able to offer this program annually for free to families.  If you would like more information ab...

  We just started back to school and already the Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club is talking about grades.  This time it isn't school grades, it's grading something you might give to your teacher...apples.  Kerrie Roach, the Horticulture Extension Agent joined the group for their October meeting with a whole bushel (or at least bunch) of apples.  September and October are known as the months for apples.  What you may not know is that the prettiest apples may not be the best apples.   So to learn how to grade apples and learn what makes a good apple it is necessary to touch them, look at them, squeeze them, and of course eat them.  Although going in there were those who knew that a Granny Smith or Red Delicious would be their favorite just because that is always what they eat, learned something new today.  The youth had to write down their top apple picks based on looks, touch or squeeze and then tas...

It is exciting to make the announcement about a new club and I think it is fair to say this new club is more colorful than all of our others. The organizational meeting for the All Around All Stars 4-H Arts and Crafts club took place tonight. Club Leader Jessica Drake has tons of volunteer help for this club, and just wanted to pull our youth together for a little creative fun. "I am really excited about this club and the opportunities for our youth to explore arts and crafts that they have not done before and give them an opportunity to express their creative side," said Drake. The beginning of the club meeting was filled with the usual, filling out forms, setting a schedule and picking out a club name. Several names were solicited from the group including; "The Snack and Juice Club", "The Mighty Superheros", "The Imaginators", "The Crafty Crafters", and even "The Cut-Ups". In the end the members voted for. "T...

 The Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair is a great place for 4-H and North Carolina Cooperative Extension to showcase our agricultural roots as well as the impact of research of the land grant universities on the present and future generations.  With agriculture being the number one economic indicator in the county and Extension working with people across our county to improve the health and well being, local food system, and future of our citizens here, what a better place to highlight those accomplishments than at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair.  The fair is the largest event in the county drawing people from across the state.     This year there were a variety of areas where you could see extension, including some newly made posters to highlight the history of the organization.  Through the bee keepers association display, Master Gardener association display, and the 4-H clover, activities, and members all over the fairgroun...

Th e last 4-H Animal Competition each year at the Robeson County Fair is a mooving experience.  That's because it is time for our heifer and steer show, probably the largest animals we have at the fair and the one's you don't want to get underfoot with.  This year was one of the largest shows we have had in our history and we were excited to have so many participants. As will the other shows this one is broken down into showmanship and then a market heifer show, and a market steer show.  Since we do not have scales at our fairgrounds large enough to weigh the animals we separate them into divisions based on the age of the animal. We had one cloverbud showing this year, Noah Beeson who took home a trophy and a five dollars.  In the Junior I division which is made up of 9-10 year olds McKenzie Beeson took home the white ribbon while Mary Vorder-Breugge took red, and Hannah Horne went home with the blue ribbon.  In t...

  The second biggest animal show day at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair is the second Saturday with the livestock shows.  We start as the fair opens with the lamb shows and move on to find the beef.  This year we had almost 30 youth with 53 lambs participating in this year's competition.   As is common with the animal shows we started with the cloverbuds, our 5-* year olds who are not competing against each other, rather gaining experience in the ring.  Showing their stuff of in this category were; Hunter Mercer, Shane Kendall, Colbey Matthis, and Tate Naylor.  Each showman took home a trophy and $5.     In our next category of 9-10 year old showmen Chasen Matthis took home the white ribbon, Roxie Long came in second, and Wyatt Kendall took home the blue ribbon.  Hannah Long rounded off this division taking home a participation ribbon for her work.   In the 11-13 year old age division there were two showmen...

Thursday afternoon at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair is a traditional agriculture type of day. It is the day when the FFA youth get out early and have a chance to take part in tractor driving and pulls as well as Poultry Judging .  Poultry judging has nothing to do with a trial and jury, it has to do with grading chickens and eggs in a variety of forms.  Teams of two, three and four people compete in 6 areas to see which team has the overall best score.  The areas are past production hens, oral reasons, breakout eggs, interior eggs, cut up chicken pieces and carcass quality.  If you don't know what is going on in the livestock building you will not understand why we cut up chickens, or have whole cooking chickens hanging up from the tops of the holding pens in the show ring.  But for the youth who took part this year, it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.   This year we had 90 youth, from three counties, who si...

No one laid an egg at this competition, but we all did learn a great deal. For example did you know it is possible to give a turkey a bath and even blow dry it? There is always a first time for everything at the Robeson County Fair and this year that was our first. We started the poultry show with our laying hens. First up was Lee Pate in our cloverbud age division. The purpose of the show is to allow youth to be comfortable showing their birds, answering questions and seeing who raises the best bird. In the cloverbud division it is all about trying something new and learning. This was Lee's first show and being that it was noncompetitive he received a trophy and cash award for his hard work. In the Junior Division, which is made up of youth between the ages of 9-13 we had two competitors. Justin Lowry took home the red ribbon while Benjamin Herndon was able to take home the blue. From laying hens we moved on to broilers. Broilers are meat chickens versus laying hens which are rai...

Traditionally the first Monday of the Robeson County Fair you can see 4-H members hopping to it in the livestock building to show their rabbits. The 4-H rabbit project is part of the animal science program. This year 13 youth raised rabbits and 7 showed off how hard they had worked by bringing their rabbits to the fair. According to our rabbit judge Glen Privette the hard work was evident. In years past Glenn has said his job was not so difficult because of the range in quality of the rabbits. This year however he said he definitely earned his check because picking between a first and second was really difficult. He said in several cases it came down to how clean their paws were, thus how clean each competitor kept their rabbit pen. Up first in the show was the cloverbud division. These are our 5 to 8 year olds who show non-competitively. This year only one cloverbud showed at the fair. Maggie Underwood with her rabbit, Mr. Lucky Brown Spots entered the ring (with a little help from ...

It's funny how this works. Every year during the fair we celebrate a national event, National 4-H week. All over the country special events take place to celebrate this youth development organization with alumni from across the world. Here in Robeson County, the County Commissioners issue a proclamation declaring it National 4-H week. We also celebrate at the fair highlighting our youths accomplishments in animal science, club work, talent, arts and crafts and much more. This year we also unveiled the new logo that will be used in all of our upcoming marketing, as well as our theme for the upcoming year. Join the Revolution of responsibility highlights the accomplishments of our youth while encouraging them to continue their community service and volunteer work. Please join us at the Robeson County Agricultural Fair this week as we celebrate our youth and all that 4-H is in this county. If you would like more information about 4-H or being part of a club please call our office at...

The first animal show of the Robeson County Fair is the 4-H Youth Goat Show . This year after animal check in, it was time to concentrate on one of the largest shows not only of the Robeson County Fair, but the circuit and the state. This year we had more than 60 youth participants with almost 100 goats. That lead to some great competition. We started the event with showmanship. This is where the youth enter the ring (based on age) and are judged for their showing abilities. First off was the cloverbud division. The cloverbuds are 5-8 year olds who have the opportunity to show, but are in a noncompetitive age division. Each child receives a trophy for their efforts. This year showing in the cloverbud division were: Eli Maske, Taylor Chappell, Braxton Butler, Kane Butler, Tyler Gerald, Alex Chappell, Madison McInnis, and Noah Beeson. Competing in the Junior 9-10 age division were; Faith Thompson, Delani Reep, Savannah Chappell, Coleman Berry, Liberty Cooper, Abigail Hamilton, Grace Fe...

Today marks the opening of the 66th annual Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair . It also marks the unveiling of all the hard work our 4-H members and volunteers have done with the club fair booths . Over the last few years there has been increased competition in this wonderful fundraising opportunity for our clubs. This year there were 13 booths in the 4-H area that answered the question...."4-H is...?". For each of our clubs 4-H is a little something different, which is hard for some people to understand. You see the concept of cows and cooking still are strong images when people see the clover. However I think our clubs did their best to illustrate the different attributes of 4-H. This year the clubs that set up booths included: Bladen Ambassadors, Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club, Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club, Horsin' Around 4-H Horse Club, Inspirational Youth Leaders, Spiritual Generations, St. Paul's 4-H Pony Club, Super Clovers, United We...

Robeson County Farmers have the opportunity to make a difference for Robeson County 4-H youth and Volunteers. Once again this year Monsanto is rewarding farmers and supporting agricultural education through their Growing Communities program . Eligible farmers have the chance to win $2,500 dollars that will go to a local nonprofit of their choice. Entrants must be 21 years or older and actively engaged in farming a minimum of 250 acres of corn, soybeans and/or cotton, or 40 acres of open field vegetables, or at least 10 acres of vegetables grown in protected culture. Entrants must reside in eligible counties where a minimum of 30,000 acres of corn and/or soybeans and/or cotton and/or vegetables are planted each year (Robeson County is an eligible county). Farmers who were eligible and/or participated in the program in 2010 may also make an application for 2011 if they meet the eligibility requirements. To register all a farmer has to do is go to Monsanto's Grow Communities ...

The Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club met to finalize their fair booth plans. As part of their meeting they painted objects that would go in the booth, planned the spacing and what supplies might be needed for the youth to bring to finish off their booth. The plans for this club's booth are also top secret. So top secret as a matter of fact that we could not take photos of the plans for the blog post. Also as part of this meeting the club members were required to give a speech on shooting sports. Each member did a impromptu speech which ranged on topics from safety to rifle mechanics, and even the benefits of different shooting positions. After receiving feedback from their club leaders Larry Russ and Peggy Monk the group finished up the details of their fair booth props and then adjourned. The next club meeting will be held on October 28th at the Robeson County Fair Grounds starting at 4:30 to set up their fair booth.

The Dirty Rascal Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club met this evening and went over their top secret fair booth plans. Now no one privileged to the plans is allowed to say too much but I can say they talked about thrilling planters, information that will fill your life, and plants that will spill over to make a statement. We were also told that fiber optics and woodworking projects will be included. Club leaders Ms. Messy Missy and Mrs. Tanya also worked with the youth on their special containers for planting. After all the plans and container review there was time to be crafty. Mrs. Tanya had special 4-H crafts that she handed out to everyone. Each person got a chance to make a 4-H Christmas Ornament and a beaded 4-H key chain. The craft art kits are from oriental trading and were a lot of fun to make. Our older youth help the younger ones with any of the details that involved fine motor skills. The club's next meeting will take place at the Robeson County Fairgrounds a...

As you may remember in August we held elections for County Council Officers and Volunteer Leader Officers. However a motion was made to table the meeting for County Council Officer elections to a later date. Today is that later date and boy, did our youth get the job done. Christian McRae, was President-Elect and help run the elections for this year. Korina Pittman and T'Asia Shelby had already submitted their nomination forms for Secretary and Reporter so we needed to come up with a Parliamentarian and President-Elect for the coming year since Christian will become President. Nominations were opened from the floor and Dillon McCartney was nominated for Parliamentarian and Shabreya Vample and Justin Moore were nominated to run for President-Elect. The ballots went out to each club with members present and Christian with a guiding volunteer hand counted the votes. When it was all over with Christian McRae will be the incoming President, Shabreya Vample will be President-El...

Volunteer service. That is one of the things we try to stress as part of our 4-H program. It is important for our youth to give back to their community and realize they are serving as a role model for younger youth who will one day follow in their footsteps. This summer we had four teen volunteers that we recognized; Chris Bullard, Megan Hurst, Korina Pittman and Santiago Acuna-Robinson. All four youth spent days and weeks of their summer working with other youth and volunteering (granted in a couple of cases they might have been voluntold) for various projects. Of course, they do not expect payment or reward for their efforts so that makes it especially nice when we can offer them something to say thank you for their help. The teen volunteer retreat location was a secret. It was top secret as the teens tried to bribe their 4-H Agent with Diet Coke, hugs, undying grattitude and other spendiferous things to learn the final destination. However they would not learn the secret destination...