By Alice McFarlane

4-H club carries on with achievement day despite pandemic

Jun 26, 2020 | 11:56 AM

With hard work and ingenuity, members of the Tisdale 4-H Beef Club were able to hold their annual achievement day.

When the pandemic struck, 4-H clubs across the province were forced to cancel several events including the year end achievement days.

Seventeen-year-old Makenzie Olson has been a member of the Tisdale 4-H Beef club for eight years.

She said she was disappointed when activities were cancelled but the members decided to try and find a way to carry on.

“We put a lot of work into our projects to not be able to exhibit them at the end of the year,” Olson told farmnewsNOW. “Our club worked together to arrange a virtual achievement day so we could still display our animals.”

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A total of 44 head of cattle were shown by 20 members during the virtual event where the 4-H projects were submitted to judges Justin and Layne Cay.

“Everyone had to get their animals ready as they would for a show but at home, take pictures and video. It was a big learning curve for everyone, but it was a valuable lesson to learn in the cattle industry,” Olson said.

The judges picked a two-year-old cow/calf pair shown by Justin Harcourt as the grand champion female. Megan Hunt had the reserve grand champion female which was also a two-year-old cow/calf pair.

Tyler Olson had the grand champion steer while Jennifer Harcourt had the reserve grand champion steer.

Barrie Jung with Bruce Schapansky Auctioneers conducted the online 4-H auction last night. With the support of individuals and businesses the sale was a success with an average price of $2.94 per pound.

Olson sold her steer, Kanon, for $3.30 per pound to Ritchie Bro. Auctioneers. Prior to the auction she made the decision to donate 25 per cent of the proceeds of the sale to a local charity impacted by the pandemic.

“The community has supported our club so well for so long that I thought it would be nice to give back this year due to the pressures added by COVID-19,” she said.

It works out to a $1,300 donation to the Tisdale Salvation Army Food Bank.

Olson is graduating from Tisdale Middle and Secondary School and will be taking the animal sciences technology course at Lakeland College in Vermillion this fall.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF