4-H'ers earn and learn

By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Wrapping up the Columbiana County Fair for many participants means saying goodbye, sometimes tearfully, to project animals they've worked with all year.
Hogs, lambs, steers and even rabbits and chickens translate into cold, hard cash, however; dollars that will one day help some teens pay tuition for college or trade school.
The Columbiana County Fair concludes Sunday. Most junior fair project animals were sold earlier in the week.
Kasey Baker of New Waterford brought rabbits, chickens and Pygmy goats to the fair. The rabbits and chickens will be sold; the goats will return home.
The 14-year-old has been in 4-H for six years and said she is saving the money she has earned from the sale of her project animals toward college.
"I had a dairy beef feeder the first year," she said. "They [calves] are harder to let go of than the chickens and rabbits."
Kasey said she likes everything about the fair and tries each year to bring different projects.
Seth Fieldhouse, 13, of New Waterford showed Pygmy goats and Jersey dairy cows this year. In the past he has had chickens and rabbits at the fair and is saving the money earned from their sale.
He doesn't plan to go to college, but he'll save his sale money until he finds a special way to spend it.
Long-term project
Junior fair participants spend much of the year before the fair caring for their project animals. Seth said the amount of time needed varies with each animal.
To raise a market steer, participants start in November or December; rabbits are bred to give birth in April or May, he said.
Seth said he enjoys 4-H and showing project animals because it's fun to work with them all year, to carefully take care of them and feed them, then bring them to the fair.
Kelsey Todd of Hanoverton brought a market pen of three rabbits to the fair this year. She has participated for about seven years and until this year showed horses.
"My brother raised rabbits and I always helped, so I decided to try it," the 16-year-old said. "You breed the rabbits, and then you pick the three best ones to bring to the fair."
She said the rabbit had 26 bunnies in the litter, and she will probably sell the rest at a livestock auction.
What she does with the money from the sales depends on how much she gets, she said.
Paid for trip
A.J. French of Minerva showed and sold a 220-pound hog at this year's fair. He's not sure what he'll do with the money this year.
Last year's hog project helped the 17-year-old pay for a school trip last July to Spain, England and France.
He has been involved in 4-H for 10 years and has shown hogs, goats and dairy cows.
"Coming to the fair can be a lot of fun," he said. "Once you've been coming for a while, you see people that you met at other fairs. Sometimes you make new friends, too."
Patrick Cox, 16, plays on the Crestview High School football team and plans to be an architect.
The New Waterford teen has brothers and sisters who also show at the fair. He said the family has agreed that all money earned from the sale of fair animals will be banked into a fund for college. He sold a 253-pound hog this year.
"It takes a lot of work because you have to care for the animals, but you also have to write letters to businesses, asking them to come to the auction and buy your animal.
"I wrote to, like, six different places, and Rogers Auction bought my hog. Now I have to write thank-you notes."
Patrick said that next year he will probably choose a beef feeder for his project.
"Having animals at the fair is a good way to earn money for college," he said. "The fair is fun because you get to meet a lot of people."
tullis@vindy.com