Hello fellow readers of the Ashcroft Journal! My name is Raya and I am 10 years old, and this year I was elected by my club as the reporter.
Now what club is that, you may wonder? It is our local Ashcroft 4-H Club. I would like to share about our time at the 86th Provincial Winter Fair (PWF) held in Kamloops.
This fair is quite important to us, as our club represents Ashcroft and it is an opportunity to show our care, knowledge, and hard work given to our individual projects. At our club, for projects we have the selection of Poultry, Beef, and Sheep. We have been dedicated to caring for them since they were young and through 4-H learned about their unique animal husbandry.
Now back to the PWF. Our club had 22 members attend, and a total of 13 sheep, 11 beef, and five poultry projects. Throughout the weekend we competed in showmanship, judging, and animal classes.
Basically there is a judge who is watching how you present yourself and your animal, and asks you all kinds of questions about them and sometimes tests your knowledge about your species. Then there are classes where only our animals get judged in groups. Lastly we get to test our knowledge learned in 4-H on judging animal of their class too.
Here are some of our club member accomplishments:
Grand Champion Youth Open Showmanship Sheep Division: Sullivan L.
Reserve Grand Champion Overall Beef Carcass and Champion 4-H Beef Carcass: Jacob K.
Champion 4-H Junior Showmanship Beef Division: Bailey K.
2024 Junior Beef Aggregate Champion and Champion Hereford Steer and Champion Junior 4-H Beef Judge: Oliver S.
2024 Junior Beef Aggregate Runner-up and Reserve Champion Junior 4-H Beef Judge and Reserve Champion Junior 4-H Showmanship Beef Division and Champion Junior 4-H Showmanship Sheep division: Carly S.
Champion Intermediate 4-H Beef Judge: Presli S.
2024 Junior Poultry Aggregate Champion and Champion 4-H Poultry Project Chicken Trio and Reserve Champion Junior 4-H Showmanship Poultry Division and Champion 4-H Junior Sheep Judge: Paxton M.
Champion Youth Open Poultry Project Chicken Trio and Champion Youth Open Showmanship Poultry Division: Matthias M.
Reserve Champion 4-H Poultry Project Chicken Trio: Grace B.
Reserve Champion Junior 4-H Showmanship Sheep Division and 2024 Winner of Levere Livestock Lamb project to show in the 2025 87th PWF: Emerson P.
Reserve Champion Youth Open Showmanship Sheep Division: Cassidy P.
There were so many exciting things happening at the PWF for our club members and many, many more awards given out to others for their placings. It was really great to cheer them on.
One of my favourite awards this year was that our 4-H Ashcroft Club was Runner-up for the Beef Stall Competition and winner of the Sheep Stall Division! (Poultry did not have a competition in this category.) These awards are special because we all worked together as a club to decorate, clean, and tidy these stalls each day all day for our animals. It felt really wonderful to accomplish this together.
“Learn by Doing” is a slogan of 4-H in British Columbia. Champion or not, we are there being supported by our leaders, fellow members, and family on our learning journey.
Thank you to all those involved: leaders, parents, volunteers, and sponsors who supported us in making our 4-H year happen.
Thank you so much to the buyers of all our projects that were for the sale.
Thank you to the Provincial Winter Fair and its supporters, along with 4-H for providing a place where lasting memories can take place for us.
We could not have done this without you all. On behalf of the Ashcroft 4-H Club I would like to express our sincerest appreciation.
Thank you too, readers, for taking the time to read about our club happenings!
