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Branston Pohlman, 13, Fort Recovery, shows his dairy calf named Cheese Curd at the 172nd Mercer County Fair. Pohlman and Cheese Curd were awarded a third-place in Cheese Curd's age class and a fifth-place in his showmanship performance.
CELINA- Fresh off a successful year at the 172nd Mercer County Fair, 4-H students all over the county started school this month with a plethora of their own ribbons and prizes from the junior fair.
4-H is a community of young people across America who learn leadership, citizenship and life skills as they work in partnership with adults on a variety of projects - from food and forestry to rockets and rabbits, according to Ohio 4-H Youth Development.
Youth who participate in the program must be at least 8 years old and in the third grade as of Jan. 1. The last year of eligibility or participation in 4-H is the year in which the individual turns 19.
"They've completed books to learn about their animal and then they do whatever preparations needed to get that animal ready for the fair, which obviously looks much different for a dog versus the dairy project or a beef project," said Ohio State Extension 4-H Youth Development Educator Beth Guggenbiller. "At home, they're working on getting that (project) ready."
Guggenbiller said the week was a resounding success with around 500 kids participating in junior fair livestock projects.
"Our kids are always well prepared," Guggenbiller said. "I think that speaks from their parents and their advisors and whatever other helpers they have leading up to the shows. Our kids, I think, are always well prepared and our judges always have great comments and feedback about how well our shows are run and how the quality of showman we have is always a high standard."
Haylee Harling, 13, Celina, praises her dog Reba after finishing the agility course at the 172nd Mercer County Fair. Harling showed her dog Reba for the first time at this year's fair. Reba is a 3-year-old golden cavalier.
Haylee Harling, 13, of Celina started in 4-H by showing horses and then recently switched to showing dogs.
"We got the dogs from a rescue and so they were very skittish and I went to try to train them to be more happy and more kind with people, instead of scared," she had said. "I thought that taking them to fair and working with them would be really good for them."
Reba, a 3-year-old golden cavalier, participated in the Mercer County Fair 4-H dog show with her human Haylee Harling, 13, Celina.
Harling showed her dog Reba, 3, for the first time at this year's Mercer County Fair. Harling and Reba competed in agility, obedience and rally. They went home with first place in rally A, second place in 12-inch mad shape dash beginner, second place in 12-inch standard beginner and second place in 12-inch jumpers beginner.
Following the show, Harling said she thought it went very well, and she plans to show Reba again at next year's fair.
Branston Pohlman, 13, Fort Recovery and Cheese Curd were awarded a third-place in Cheese Curd's age class and a fifth-place in his showmanship performance at the Mercer County Fair.
Branston Pohlman, 13, of Fort Recovery has shown dairy calves since he was 8 years old and showed his heifer named Cheese Curd at the fair.
In his first year at the fair, Pohlman was awarded the showmanship award. For the award, 4-H students are judged on their ability to effectively exhibit an animal to its best advantage in a competitive show ring environment.
This year, he went home with a third-place ribbon for Cheese Curd's age class and a fifth-place ribbon for his showmanship performance.
He said he's proud of himself and Cheese Curd.
"She was a little scared at the fair, so we tried our best," he said. "(I) had lots of fun showing and being with friends and family."
He added that next year he will try to keep his calf's head up higher to make her walk more gracefully, and practice walking with his heifer more.
Cheese Curd cools off with a refreshing drink of water at the Mercer County Fair.
When showing dairy cattle, judges look for various things, including how well the animal is presented, per the Midwest Farm Report.
"Judges are also looking for how you are setting your animal up and if you are making sure it is looking its best at all times," the website states. "That goes into the physical appearance as well as making sure that they are well-tempered and being handled well in the ring.
Exhibitors should also be keeping a safe distance between them and other animals. Showmanship differs from the regular animal age classes because in showmanship, exhibitors can bring in a heifer that maybe isn't as correct in their confirmation. However, by the way they show the animal, they can still do well in showmanship, the website states.
The week ended on a high note with the Junior Fair Livestock Auction.
Established to encourage 4-H and FFA members to enter livestock projects, the champion and reserves of the market beef, market hog, market lamb, meat chickens, market goat, turkey, dozen eggs, gallon of dairy milk and gallon of goat milk exhibits were auctioned off.
This year's auction also debuted a new category - market dairy beef cross steer.
The grand champion market beef steer shown by Buckeye 88s member Camden Fleck, son of Joshua and Holly Fleck, sold for a record high of $17,125 to several businesses, organizations and individuals who banded together.
The previous record was set in 2016 when Mitch Siefring's grand champion market beef steer commanded $5,850.
