Growing up the Old Fashion Way ~ By, John Howsden

At the start of the twentieth century the government had a problem. Researchers working at the land-grant universities—run by the USDA—were coming up with new agriculture discoveries; however, the old farmers showed little interest in the new fangled ideas. Although the old guys weren’t receptive to what the government was touting, the younger generation was. Consequently, youth programs such as the 4-H club were formed and became the platform to introduce new agriculture technology.

The 4-H club was so successful that it now has 6.5 million members with 90,000 cubs, one of them being the Copper Hills 4-H club right here in downtown Copperopolis.

Although getting the word out on better agriculture practices is fine, something even better happens when a young person decides to raise an animal in 4-H. Kandee Smith, a 4-H leader for seven years with two children in the club says, “I would absolutely recommend it as a way for children to learn responsibility and management skills.”

It’s true, responsibility isn’t taught; it’s learned. And when it comes to raising livestock, the learning process starts long before the sun rises. Early in the morning the animals have to be fed and watered. Once the animal has been tended to, its owner is off to school for a full day of academics.

Returning from school in the afternoon, it starts over again with the feeding, watering, plus now the animal needs to be exercised. While walking the animal, they have to be visually inspected for signs of ill health or injuries. But wait, there’s more.  Depending on the type of animal involved, it may have to be brushed, shampooed, scrubbed, rinsed off and dried. If the animal doesn’t need worming or vaccinating, then, and only then, the young adult can take a break from their manual labor and go inside to fill out their paper work.

Yes, like any business enterprise, there’s paper work. The animal’s weight is watched, tracked and recorded on a matrix. The amount of feed is adjusted to control the closely watched weight of the animal, which will be crucial at the auction. All this is recorded and analyzed like a stock broker watching the market. According to Tasha Westberg, who has three children in 4-H, “It’s a tricky situation, but they learn how to manage their time and the importance of consistency.” 

Of course, none of this is free. The initial thousand dollars, or so, to buy a steer just gets your muddy boot in the door.  Food, grooming and medical attention cost money as well. Again good business practices means starting and managing a bank account along with monitoring the profit and loss on a spread sheet.  Because livestock don’t come equipped with an on and off switch, this ritual of feeding, watering, grooming and tracking goes on every single day.  

It’s during these endless months of care and feeding for the livestock that these budding business people learn words like “labor intensive,” “work ethic” and “fiscal responsibility,” are really synonyms for blood, sweat and tears.  

In time the weather warms up, the animal fattens up and the Calaveras County Fair opens up.  By now the young men or women have learned more than they ever wanted to know about raising livestock. Finally it’s time to take Tri-Tip, or whatever name they’ve dubbed the animal, to the auction. There are no cute euphemisms about what’s going to happen to these animals they’ve doted on the last six months.  No doubt there may be some emotional attachment to the animal; but it was always known that the county fair was the animal’s portal to someone’s dinner table.

In May, the Calaveras County Fair is in full swing.  Amid the rides, candy and side shows, you, the potential customer, are welcomed to the auction.  Why buy market meat at the auction? “The meat you buy is fresher and higher quality and it supporting local youth.” says Westberg.

Auction day starts out with breakfast and a Bloody Mary, if you’re so inclined. One at a time the animals are brought into the ring and bid upon.  Since the primary goal of raising market live stock is to sell it, the auction makes it easy for you to make a purchase.  One of these ways is to not require you to purchase the whole animal. You can go in with other folks and buy just a portion of the animal to fit your freezer or pocket book.

The auction marks the end of an arduous, yet a valuable journey. But best of all, it means it’s payday—maybe. Like any other business venture, there is no sure thing.  “Sometime you make enough money to buy a lap top or save for college,” says Smith, “and sometimes you’re lucky to make a hundred dollars.”  To reinforce this, Taylor, one of Westberg’s three sons explained, “Over the years I’ve earned several thousands dollars, but with things being slow, I only earned two hundred dollars last year.”  But still that’s enough for Taylor to buy a car and go to Columbia College where he intends to major in fire science to launch his fire fighting career.

Besides, what price do you put on the experience of growing up learning how to take care of business? Either way everyone wins by living up to the 4-H motto “To make the best better.”

For information on Copper Hills 4-H contact Michele Toberer at 785-9800.

4-H Clover