Youth Development (Otero County)

On June 27th, 2009 over forty 4-H members and parents attended a showmanship clinic for meat goats, market swine and market lambs. One former 4-H member led the workshop on swine showmanship. 4-H members were able to learn how to showcase their pig better in the showring, tips on how to practice with their swine projects at home and ask questions about clipping and nutrition. A 4-H member led the market lamb showmanship clinic and gained vital skills in learning to prepare a speech and illustrate the speech to her fellow 4-H members. These 4-H members learned how to teach their lamb to brace against them, what parts of the lamb the judge is looking to feel firm and fresh as well as ask questions about how to finish a lamb and shear a lamb. A 4-H member led the market goat showmanship section and gained important public speaking skills by listening to 4-H members questions and illustrating important showmanship skills to the 4-H members. As one 4-H member stated, "I learned some great tips to show my lambs this year. I am glad to hear other 4-H members have questions and that it will get better the longer I practice and work with my lambs."

Otero County Fair is an opportunity for Otero County 4-H members to showcase the projects they have worked so hard on all year to the public. This year Otero County 4-H had over 100 4-H members exhibit indoor and livestock projects this year at the Otero County Fair August 13-16th, 2009 in Alamogordo, NM. Indoor exhibits ranged from electrical projects to leather braiding to baked goods to ceramics to sewing projects to photography exhibits. Life skills that were acquired in the process of learning to make these exhibits will allow these 4-H members to be excellent citizens in our communities. Many of these indoor projects require the youth to keep careful and accurate records, determine goals for their projects, learn how to begin and complete a task, follow instructions and many lessons in the area of competition. These young people also learned viable project skills like how to prepare a dish or baked good, different computer skills in photography, learned different types of electrical wire as well as how to create a ceramic piece from a piece of clay.
The livestock projects that these 4-H members have worked with all year ranged from meat goats, market steers, market swine, breeding heifers, market lambs, breeding lambs, dairy goats, meat rabbits, breeding rabbits and poultry. Many of the projects exhibited at the Otero County Fair had been raised by the exhibitor themselves which allows the young people to learn essential skills in breeding decision, nutritional programs and grooming skills for their projects. These 4-H members work very hard to train their animals, groom them and feed them to a proper weight so that the animal will perform well in the show ring. These 4-H members also establish goals for their livestock projects in the beginning of the year and learn to adjust their goals as the project year goes on. As one 4-H member stated, “I really enjoy showing livestock with my friends and family. It allows me to be outside and I have a lot of fun working with my show pigs.” As one 4-H parents said, “Showing livestock is the only youth activity that allows my children to spend time with our family. In basketball, I am putting the kid on a bus and meeting them at the gym to watch them. In showing livestock, we are together as a family doing chores, working with the livestock and attending shows together. I know where my children are when they have livestock because they are at home with me. Showing livestock allows my children to learn important life lessons such as hard work and winning as well as losing.”
This year Otero County 4-H members who exhibited livestock also gained important speaking skills through visiting local area businesses and inviting them to the fair. Over 80 of the 4-H members visited businesses in Otero County and invited them to the fair to see the livestock projects and attend the Jr. Livestock Sale. These young people learned how to organize a short speech and network with local organizations and businesses.

On July 13-17, seventeen 4-H members from Otero County 4-H along with one 4-H volunteer leader attended State 4-H Conference. These young people had spent the past three months practicing and preparing for contest areas to compete in. The areas Otero County 4-H competed in was: Livestock Judging, Livestock Skill-A-Thon, Home Economic Skill-A-Thon, Impromptu Speaking, Parliamentary Procedure, Wildlife Habitat Evaluation, Horticulture Judging, Meats Judging and Favorite Foods. Otero County 4-H had an increase of 300% in participation numbers for this year’s State 4-H Conference. These young people learned vital life skills such as team work, public speaking, organizing a project, healthy nutritional skills, agriculture industry topics, successful habitat conditions for NM wildlife as well as lessons on forming valid oral reasons. Over 90% of these 4-H members saw an increase in their public speaking skills and preparing for a public speaking event. As one 4-H member said, “I had no idea I could learn so much about parliamentary procedure. This contest has not only helped me with running meetings, but it has given me confidence to speak in front of an audience and organized my thoughts better.”

On June 17th and 18th, 2009 33 4-H members, leaders and parents traveled to District 4-H Contest in Capitan, NM-Lincoln County. There were 15 4-H members that competed in Horticulture Judging, Wildlife Identification, Rifle, Air Rifle, Archery, Livestock Judging, Livestock Skill-A-Thon, Favorite Foods and Meats Identification. Many of these youth had not ever participated in a judging competition so practices were held weekly from April until June. These youth gained vital skills in their practices of these contest areas such as public speaking, problem solving skills, following instructions and team work. In each individual contest the youth gained important skills such as being able to develop a healthy recipe, identify important wildlife management practices, select healthy produce, defend their placing for livestock judging, identify the correct cuts of meat and cooking methods. These are just a sample of the skills the youth gained in the past 3 months by attending practices in an educational setting. At the District Contest the youth were able to showcase the knowledge that they had learned. In the area of Shooting Sports which focuses not only on safety and accuracy, but respect and listening skills, our 4-H members scored well in their safety practicum and target shooting. The awards that the youth won are important, but the great educational family fun that the youth had cannot be found in any other youth organization other than 4-H. This was a great start to many of these youth judging careers and their life skills were impacted immensely. 93% of the youth remarked that they learned many new skills and felt more comfortable speaking in front of a group. These 4-H members are the future leaders of our community and because of 4-H they will be better equipped because of opportunities such as this.

On April 24th and May 1st, 2009 the 4-H Agent visited Tularosa Public Schools and was a presenter at their annual Career Fairs. The first day the presentation was on, “Careers in Agriculture.” 45 students and seven teachers attended the sessions and gained knowledge on the opportunities for youth in 4-H, importance of education for career preparation, different careers in the field of agriculture, consumer science and environmental sciences and the importance of science in these youth lives. The presentation on May 1st was given to 158 students and 10 teachers and these audiences gained information in the area of Entomology. Students were asked to become scientists and think about the insects and spiders around them. They also gained information in the areas such as parts of an insect compared to a spider, environments where bugs live, ways that insects eat their food and critical thinking skills in how insects move. These youth and teachers also learned about the careers in Entomology. One youth remarked, “I learned so much about insects and the bugs around me. I had a lot of fun learning new things about spiders. I would love to work with insects when I get older.” A teacher commented, “Your presentation really reinforced many of the science life skills we had addressed with our butterfly unit this spring. The kids will remember these skills more because of your presentation.”