Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! The sound of my alarm wakes me up early before school. As a 4-H kid there are chores to be done before we can head to school. I roll out of bed and get dressed, shovel breakfast in my mouth in a hurry and then put on my work clothes and head outside to feed my critters.

Depending on the time of year, sometimes I’m feeding in the dark. I run down to the barnyard and my animals are usually standing at their fence greeting me. My steer gets a grain ration that I give him twice a day. I make sure to check his water, the bale in the feeder and his salt block. My lambs get pellets twice a day and I check their water as well. Once everything is fed and happy for the day I run back to the house, change into my school clothes and wait for the bus.  While I am at school for the day I know my 4-H animals will have full tummies!

Once my day is done at school and I am dropped off at home, I change back into my farm clothes and head outside to work with my animals. It takes a lot of patience and hard work to quiet an animal down. I usually start by just getting close enough to scratch my animal, and then I will progress and get a rope around their necks. Next I will work towards getting halters on them and leading them around. Now this is not something that just happens overnight, it will take months of work, everyday!  Our goal as 4-H kids is to get our animals as quiet as we can for the Show & Sale, usually taking place in June!

Being a 4-H’er has many great benefits and opportunities! It is a lot of hard work that is not just one day but many days; however, I wouldn’t change it. Every morning when my alarm goes off I think of our 4-H motto, “Learn to do by Doing,” and head out to take care of my animals.