Retlaw Prairie 4-H members have been busy

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Vauxhall Advance

By Christopher Mills, Club Reporter

The Retlaw Prairie 4-H Beef Club held its reorganizational meeting in October. This year we have 16 members. There are five members doing beef projects and 11 doing sheep projects. Our beef members weighed in their steers and heifers on November 10, 2023 at Southwood Stock Farms. They weighed in three heifers, five market steers, a carcass steer and our club spare. 

We held our election of officers at our November meeting. Members were elected into the following positions:

President – Elizabeth Davis

Vice President – Ella Odland

Secretary – Shelby Lillico

Treasurer – Parker Davis

Club Reporter – Christopher Mills 

Club Photographer – Bree Odland

Beef Photographer – Cason Van Hal

Sheep Photographer – Merritt Cailliau

Club Reps – Junior Rep – Arianna Cailliau, Intermediate Club Rep – Austin Odland, Senior Club Reps – Christopher Mills and Cason Van Hal

We held our 4-H Banquet at the Vauxhall Catholic Church Hall on December 8, 2023. We had a lovely roast beef supper provided by Greta. Awards were handed out for all our members’ achievements from last year. We had many of our trophy sponsors there to hand out awards and we also had some of our buyers there to enjoy the banquet. This year each member received a small duffle bag for being part of the club and each member received a Stanley Tumbler. 

We held a Christmas Party in place of our December meeting. There were games, a White Elephant Gift Exchange and candy. It was a fun evening for everyone.

Our club Communications Competition was held at the Vauxhall Elementary School on February 9, at 5:30 p.m. We started out the evening with a quick potluck supper and then continued on with our speeches and presentations. We were fortunate to have as judges: Lindsy Cummings, Cody Pearson, Ryan Slenders, Lauren Claassen, Chantal Claassen, Taylor Geremia, Julia Anton, Monique Huvenaars, and Naomi Wiebe. Thank you again to our judges for taking the time to volunteer to judge.

Our winners were as follows:

1st place Junior Speeches – Gracelyn Ovinge

2nd place Junior Speeches – Levi van der Hoek

1st place Junior Presentations – Bree Odland

2nd place Junior Presentations – Arianna Cailliau

1st place Intermediate Speeches – Ashlyn van der Hoek

1 place Intermediate Presentations – Ella Odland

2nd place Intermediate Presentations – Austin Odland

1st place Senior Speeches – Elizabeth Davis

2nd place Senior Speeches – Parker Davis

Our first-place members will compete at Districts on February 28 at 5:30 p.m. at Vauxhall Elementary School. Retlaw Prairie is in charge of Districts. Everyone is welcome to come watch. Speeches and presentations will start at 6 p.m.

We will be selling flower baskets as a fundraiser again this year, along with the Hays 4-H Club. Flower baskets will be $30 per hanging baskets and the fertilizer will be $20 per container. Flower baskets will be delivered May 5; just in time for Mother’s Day! Be sure to get your order in with one of our members.

Sheep project members will soon be picking out their projects and weighing them in.  The Taber and District Show and Sale will be held June 6th & 7th this year at the Taber Agriplex. Female projects will show on the evening of June 6th and Market Projects will show June 7th with the sale to follow in the afternoon. Hope to see you all there!

Stay tuned to see what our members will be up to next!