Anthony's 4-H Project

Anthony is now old enough or I should say in the right grade to participate in 4-H.  I think between the two of us we were anxiously awaiting this time to come.  I was the same way when TJ was old enough - however, he never got to participate more than just five short months.  I must confess that I have long awaited this time - when my children were old enough to be in 4-H.  I was in it when I was younger and enjoyed every bit of it - ok, not record books!  I had tried to convince TJ to show a steer or heifer - but had no luck.  He did agree to having livestock - just none to show.  So, now that it is Anthony's turn I thought I might get a second chance!  To my surprise he WANTED to show a steer - there was no convincing on my part - seriously!  Weigh in was quickly approaching and we still had nothing.  I began to think about choring in the cold winter months and had tried to convince him to show a heifer instead (those don't have to be "checked in" until May.  No such luck - the kid wants a steer so he can sell it and get money - pretty smart!  Thankfully my Dad had kept one back just incase!  So the day before weigh in we headed over with my Dad to check out this steer.  Now, let me rewind....even though I grew up on a purebred Angus farm and have been around livestock almost my whole life - my kids not so much.  Therefore, there is A LOT of learning going on with this project for all the kiddos - not just Anthony!  My Dad and I were able to sort him off from the bulls and into the barn where there is a headgate.  We got him caught and all of us (the boys, Dad and I) were able to scratch him, brush him, blow him with the blower (this is like an industrial strength hair dryer for cattle) and get his halter on!  I was proud of the boys for not being to scared and listening carefully to what Grandpa had to say!  We let him go and decided to just keep him there for the night - one less time to load him up before weigh in the next day.

The next day was a story all and in itself - but I won't share that with you.  We were able to get him loaded and as soon as school was out I picked up the boys and we were off to weigh in.  Thankfully Jon went with us.  I was not ready to show off my backing up skills with a trailer at our first weigh in (I can't back up anything hooked up very well).  The steer got a new ear tag, implanted and weighed and we were off!  My Dad thought that he might need some company since he was not used to being by himself - so after weigh in we went back to Dad's and loaded up Herky - Hawkeye's calf (Hawkeye was the bucket bottle calf TJ had the summer before he got sick). I don't think that we will show Herky, but I love having both of them here and I believe Anthony would agree!  I've been so proud of him.  He sets his alarm to wake up and feed them before school and is ready to back out in the afternoon.  I haven't heard one complaint - yet!  We haven't done a whole lot with the steer yet - it's been so darn cold.  I was able to grab his halter - wrap it around the gate and scratch him a little bit.  However, he found a way to get his halter off - so on a nice day we will have to see if we can't get it back on him.  I asked Anthony if he was going to name him - he's still thinking about it, but in the meantime Jon has nicknamed him Rocky!  Showing livestock was one of my absolute favorite things - I'm hoping Anthony enjoys it as much as I did!  Time will tell!

 

Here he is at weigh in.  This is where they put in his new ear tag and gave him an implant.  Then they took him out to go to the scale!

 

 

 

Anthony doing chores - weighing out the feed. 

 

 

The show steer is on the left (the one with the halter) and Herky is the one on the right!

 

 

 

This was the second day we had them at our place.  Anthony had to call them to come eat.  Now they are more than ready and waiting for Anthony.

 

 

Gotta love those black Angus cattle - it's so hard to take a good picture!  The green tag is the steer (left) and the white tag (right) is the heifer.