4H on Parade

Well it was another successful 4-H on Parade for the Mountain View 4-H Dairy Club. For those of you who do not know what 4H on Parade is, let me explain. 4-H on Parade is one big 4H show for all the clubs inside the Calgary Region, hosted by the Calgary Stampede. It is not mandatory to attend. There are many different 4-H clubs, like beef, horse, sheep, pigs, dogs and life skills. It is the largest 4-H event in all of Canada and in my eyes a great opportunity to meet new people and get a feel for different agriculture sectors. Our club is the only dairy club that attended; it doubles also as our Achievement day. This year I had a great 4-H on Parade with getting overall Reserve senior judge in the Multi judging competition. Multi judging is based on 6 classes that consist of dairy, sheep, horse, beef steers, beef heifers and a consumer decision making class. You must place the classes of 4 in the right order starting with the top animal and so forth, you must also explain the reasoning for your decision to a judge who gives you a mark out of 50 and your placing are out of 50 as well.  I also was Grand champion senior showman from our club.  Showmanship is based on how you handle your calf in the ring, how well it walks, how the calf and I are turned out. Conformation Classes are based on how the animal looks, kind of a Beauty pageant for people. Out of the 3 animals I brought I received a first place ribbon, a second place ribbon and my project calf was placed seventh out of 19 calves. I can not wait for it next year and now I know what calves are coming to Summer Synergy!

Neurotropic Equine Herpes Virus

Some bad news has hit Alberta relating to the Neurotropic Equine Herpes Virus. There was a cutting show in Ogden, Utah were the virus was believed to be spread to three horses in British Columbia which attended the show. A horse in Alberta was confirmed to have the virus as well but was not at the show. As being a family farm we have about 8 horses and are a little worried about this virus. It is airborne so some precautions to take is avoid trailoring horses for three weeks and put standard biosecurity protocols in place at your farm. I was speaking to our vet yesterday Dr. Gordon Atkins as he was doing herd health. When I asked him about the nEHV-1 he said that once a horse contracts the virus there is no recovery for the horse and it will most likely have to be euthanized. It also can not be transferred to bovine animals so the dairy and beef cows are safe. For everyone who has horses make sure you take all the precautions possible so we will not spread this virus. It could potentially be the BSE crises that tore apart the beef industry so lets not let the nEHV-1 tear apart the horse industry. As being an employee of the Olds Agricultural Society they have cancelled all equine events for an, as yet, unspecified period of time. They are taking all the precautions to keep the virus from spreading.

May Long!

Well folks May Long is here and im sure everyone has some fun planned, I know I do! I hope everyone is safe and has a good time but for farmers theres always the cows to take care of on weekends and holidays. People not involved in agriculture may not know that no matter if it is your birthday, New Years, Christmas or May Long the cows have to be milked and fed. I personally know this because when its my dads weekend to work its not fun for me milking the cows that early in the mornig! So for all the people that get to go out for May Long think of the people that are at home doing chores! I would also like to remind all of you that the Farmers Market at the Olds Ag society is starting up again on May the 9. Its important to shop local and try to stick to the 100 mile radius challenge. There is many local farmers selling meat, B.C. fruits is always there with fresh fruit and the local Huderites have thier stand of a combination of food. There is lots to find there at great prices and your supporting the local economy!

Finally Up!

Hello everyone! I finally got my blog up and running. It may be late but we all know farming doesn’t work around your plans, you have to adapt to it. 
It has been a busy month for me, with the end of school and 4-H on Parade coming up soon. I have been working on halter breaking my Dairy calves and keeping busy with working at the Olds Agriculture Society on weekends. I hope you will follow my blog and please ask questions, I will try and answer to the full extent of my knowledge.