Retlaw Prairie 4-H pushing through the pandemic

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Vauxhall Advance

By Dorthea Mills 

4-H is still trying to make the best of it even though restrictions have not allowed us to meet as a club. Last year when COVID-19 basically shut down the world, our members persevered and carried on with their projects. We were hopeful that we would be able to participate in the Taber and District Show and Sale but it turned out that our show went virtual, and our members marketed their projects themselves. 

This year we have 27 members participating in beef, sheep, horse and small engine projects. Our members were able to hold a couple of 4-H meetings and our beef weigh-in before restrictions made it so we couldn’t meet. Our annual calf tour was held virtually with members sharing photos and videos of their steers and heifers. Our members are hard at work halter breaking their animals. The sheep projects will be weighing in at the end of March and the Taber District is planning their Annual Show and Sale for Thursday, May 28, 2021 starting with the female beef and sheep projects and Friday, May 29, 2021 for the beef and sheep market animals. Animals will sell on May 29, 2021. 

Our horse project was able to get in a couple of rides before restrictions put a stop to their activities. If it warms up a little, they will be able to get together for a ride outside and are looking forward to being able to ride in the arena again.

Our small engines project was only able to get together once before we were shut down. Right now, our members are to be working on a Co2 car and when we are able to get back together, we will be able to race our cars and actually start ripping some engines apart.

Members are working on their 4-H speeches and will be submitting videos of their speeches by Feb. 13, 2021 and then they will be judged. We are looking for nine members of our community that would be interested in judging one of our age groups (juniors, intermediates, seniors) by watching the recorded speeches in the comfort of your own home and filling in their comment sheets. You will also select our winners. If you are interested in judging, please contact Dorthea Mills at 403-894-8322.

This year we were unable to invite our buyers and trophy sponsors to our Annual Banquet and Awards Night. We were unable to have our 2019-20 banquet and we decided to hand out the awards to the members and take a picture of each winner and announce on our Facebook page what they won. We appreciate our buyers and trophy sponsors standing by our members and supporting them.

The awards handed out were as follows: Champion Market Steer – Sutten Emelson

Reserve Marker Steer, Junior Beef Record Book & Intermediate Public Speaking – Christopher Mills

Senior Beef Record Book – Chelsey Mills

Champion Heifer – Torynn Plumb/Chase Plumb

Champion Cow/Calf – Marie Wetherelt/Chase Plumb

Junior Public Speaking – Blaise Odland

Senior Public Speaking & Senior Sheep Record Book – Samantha Delanoy

Junior Presentations – Katherine Delanoy

Intermediate Presentations – Vane Ferguson

Senior Presentations – Kalley Howg

Champion Market Lamb – Marie Wetherelt

Reserve Market Lamb – Josh Tolsma

Junior Sheep Record Book – Shelby Lillico

Champion Prospect Ewe, Champion Yearling Ewe, Champion Mature Ewe & Champion Breeder’s Flock – Jackson Wetherelt

Congratulations to all of our members for completing their year and for finding success through this pandemic. We look forward to when we can meet again and have fun as a club!