COLUMBIANA CO. Board clamps down on 4-H'ers

One official said caring for the animals is part of the fair experience.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County Fair officials will be patrolling the livestock barns in earnest next week to ensure that junior fair participants are doing their own work.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture has a long-standing rule that junior fair participants must care for and prepare their own animals for the show ring. The rule has been optional, and not well enforced, if at all, explained Julie Herron, 4-H extension agent. Enforcing the rule is up to individual fair boards, and last year the fair board voted to enforce the rule, she said.
It has been a popular practice among fair participants who show hogs, lambs or cattle to have parents, older siblings or other adults known as fitters prepare an animal for show.
"The kids take care of their animals all year, but when they get to the fair, then an adult steps in," she said. "They're going into the show ring and they want everything to be perfect, but the animal is the child's project, not the parents'," she said.
"If you go to the livestock barns before a show, you'll see everyone running generators to operate clippers and even hair dryers," she said. "They scrub and clip and comb. Most of the kids do their own work, but for some of the adults, the attitude is that the kids can't handle the job when it really matters. The show is for the kids, not their parents."
Usually with larger animals
Herron said there's never been a problem with smaller project animals, but with the larger livestock, preparing for the show ring takes a lot of time and effort.
"Caring for their animals is part of the fair experience," she said. "The whole philosophy of 4-H is learning by doing," Herron said. "If they're not doing, then what are they learning?"
"A lot of times the kids will be up on the midway until almost time for them to show," she said. "The fitters get the animal ready, and the kids come down for the show, take the animal through the show, then go back to the midway. That defeats the whole purpose of 4-H programs."