We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Members of the White Pine 4-H Club were busy cleaning up the Lamb barn. In addition the group did some minor maintenance and repair as well.
Blaine County Ag/4-H Extension Agent Juli Snedigar gives instruction to the majority of kids who will be attending this weeks Blaine County Fair. This past Saturday the five local clubs as well as members of the FFA from Chinook Harlem and Turner got together for the annual 'clean-up day' prior to the start of the Blaine County Fair. According to Snedigar, participation numbers for the clubs hovers right around 100.
Chinook high school sophomore and White Pines member, Grace Buck, pounds a steel post into the ground to secure the panels at the north end of the barn together.
Kailey Passon of Hi-line Canine doubles as Coach for Blaine County 4-H kids taking a Dog to show in the Blaine County Fair. Her Class contains more 4-H members than will actually show and that's is a testament to the growing popularity of the Dog Show at the Blaine County Fair.
A huge part of the Blaine County Fair each year are the exhibits and projects on display by the Blaine County 4-H and local Junior/Senior High School FFA Clubs. Prior to the start of the fair each year members gather at the fairgrounds for a 'clean-up day' and to get some last minute instruction from Blaine County Ag/4-H Extension Agent Juli Snedigar. Also on hand to lend assistance was Trent Noel - FCS/4-H Extension Agent.
Blaine County 4-H consists of five clubs, they include: Bear Paw Buddies; Big Flat, North Chinook Boosters, Valley Clovers and White Pine. Three FFA chapters in Chinook, Harlem and Turner also participate in the Blaine County Fair.
4-H leaders are vital to each clubs success and strong participation and Blaine County is lucky to have several. Kelly Anderson is the Organizational Leader for the Bear Paw Buddies and its eight members. Shannon Van Voast is the Organizational leader for Big Flat. Hilary Richman, Tim Richman, Bobbi Schroder and Alan Van Voast also serve in leadership rolls for the clubs ten members.
North Chinook Boostsers boasts an enrollment of 27 with Jen Elias serving as Organizational Leader. Additional leaders include Tracie Bowles, Miranda Skoyen, Dan Skoyen and Juli Snedigar. Valley Clovers is 12 member strong with Tomi Simenson as Organizational Leader. Miles Laird, Rhea Miller and Justin Simenson serve as additional leaders for the club.
Blaine Counties largest club is White Pines with a whopping 33 members. Amanda Davies is the Organizational leader for this large group and she is joined by additional leaders Larry and Bobbi Klingamen.
Blaine County 4-H and FFA members have the opportunity to enter a wide variety of projects in the Blaine County Fair. Those projects certainly include something for even the most difficult youngster to find an interest. Photography, welding, cooking, small engines, woodworking, entomology, forestry to live animal projects such as the more popular market beef, swine and lamb. Some of the other very popular animal projects include poultry, pocket pet, rabbit, beef breeding, dairy cattle goat, horse, cat and dog.
Emma Klingamen of the White Pine 4-H Club takes a market swine along with her brother Ethan. They each have Buddy Pigs as well, when asked what her favorite part of the project was she stated, "Selling it!" Emma stated that she hoped her 300 pound swine would do well at sale, "I hope to make at least $1,000". Judging by what market swine went for at recent fairs in Dodson and Havre, she may be very happy with her sale.
The 4-H/Livestock sale takes place Saturday afternoon, "We have 23 market beef, eight market lambs, 43 or so market hogs, depending on weigh ins and such, " said Snedigar.
The week is full, "Tuesday we'll have the horse show where they do all their riding events. Wednesday we will have all the interviews for their indoor stuff and that takes place in the 4-H building," said Snedigar. "Thursday we will have the small animal shows and weigh in and we'll ultrasound all the animals."
Gone are the days of the Carcass show where the animals are judges at the processing plant, "So we ultra sound for the back fat marbling and the rib-eye or loin area. We don't do Carcass grading anymore we just do the ultra sound now," added Snedigar. "The (Market Beef) judge doesn't get any of the results from the ultra sound, that's all done afterwords and it gets sent off and compiled and we'll get the results later."
To make sure all animals sold at the fair can get in to the processor in a timely manner, Snedigar has it covered, "We ask all the buyers ahead of time to contact the processors and make sure they have a spot available in advance and then after the sale we will deliver the animal to them." This year three local outfits are available to buyers, "This year we have Bear Paw Meats, Hi-line Packing and Pay-n-save in Saco."
White Pine 4-H member Grace Buck is taking three projects to this years fair, "I'm taking Rabbit, Steer and Horse. I'm bringing a two year old Colt for Colt to Maturity and then I have my Mom's black mare I'm bringing for Horsemanship and then Western." For her Rabbit project Grace is showing one Doe, "I'm showing a Mini Rex and they have very soft fur and that is what they are mainly used for. They are very nice rabbits.
Rabbit is an interesting project, but Grace certainly knows what she likes about it. "I enjoy being able to talk about them, showing is just kind of easy, you just show them but being able to tell people what I know about my rabbit is very nice." Her Market Beef is coming along, "Probably started getting him in around January and started working him from there. I began halter breaking him the first part of June." Heading into the fair weekend Grace likes what she sees, "He's a very nice steer, has a good brisket and everything. I do wish he would have filled out a bit more in the hind quarter but other than that he is a very nice steer."
Kailey Kleinjan, owner of Hi-line Canine is honored to bring her expertise to a number of Blaine County 4-H members. Kleinjan serves as coach for those taking Dog projects and held a training session this past Saturday to further help them prepare for next weeks show. "I have seven kids that are showing this year and eight kids that are taking the class."
How did she land such a perfect position, "Funny thing is I never showed Dogs while I was in high school and once I graduated college in 2020 I came back and I talked to Shelly Benzing who ran the Dog program. I said, hey I'd love to help out and she thought it was a great idea. I started taking over the last couple of years and now it's my program to run," said Kleinjan.
Kleinjan started her business in May of 2020 and we started practice around June of the same year. I wanted to help out more with the fair. I was already on the rodeo committee but I wanted to do something more with the kids and their projects and things. I figured, well I'm a Dog Trainer and coaching the 4-H dogs kind of seems like what I should be doing."
Her business gives her a little clout with the students and parents alike, "I mean it's kind of cool that the kids can say they have a dog trainer as their dog coach. It's fun because I can take what I learn from my clients dogs and apply it to my 4-H kids."
