We Honor Our Veterans!

Our club proudly participates in many community events.  Saturday, November 10th was no different as several of our club members and adult volunteers honored our veterans during the Veterans' Day Parade in Lake City.  The Livestock Club would like to say "Thank You" to all Veterans, past and present! 

Cleaning for a Cause

On Saturday, September 29, 2012 several members of the Livestock Club participated in a River Clean-Up day at O'leno State Park. They picked up over 40 pounds of trash from the river banks and surrounding areas. O'leno hosted the River Clean-Up in honor of National Public Lands Day. 

New Year, New Excitement

We haven't posted here in a while so it's time for some updates!  We wrapped up our 2011-2012 year with a bang by hosting the 4-H Awards Banquet on August 24th.  There were 124 people in attendance...a 10 year attendance record!!  We had great food and fellowship and the kids and volunteers were recognized for their hard work and accomplishments!  Now with last year behind us we are looking ahead to the 2012-2013 4-H year. 

We are not even a full month into the new year and we already have kids participating in community service projects to help spread the word about 4-H and to help better our community.  Everyone is also getting geared up for the 2012 Columbia County Fair which will be among us before we know it!   The kids are working hard with their projects as well as studying for a Skillathon and Livestock Judging Contest. 

We are in the planning stages for several "field trips" so stay tuned for more FUN updates! 

We will continue to meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Bethlehem Lutheran Church just north of Ellisville (12 miles south of Lake City).  Please feel free to bring a friend. 

Community Service and a Living Memorial.....All in One

On Saturday, July 23, 2011 a group of our 4-H Kids gathered at Alligator Park to plant a Magnolia tree.  The tree planting idea began as a community service project, coupled with the 4-H Million Trees Project.  As we began to lay out the plan, our community was hit with a tragedy when Department of Forestry Firefighters, Josh Burch and Brett Fulton, lost their lives while fighting the Blue Ribbon Fire on June 20, 2011.  At that time we decided to wrap the two together and plant this tree as a living memorial to these two heroes.  We had approximately 20 kids in attendance to have their hand in planting the tree, as well as representatives from Department of Forestry and members of the Burch and Fulton Families. 

Articles related to this can be found at:

Lake City Reporter

and

Lake City Journal

Got Milk?

This is old news, but I wanted to share it anyway.  Back in January our group took a trip over to Gilchrist County where we got to tour two separate dairy farms owned by DPS Dairy.  First we went to the farm in Branford where our kids got to see the milking parlor and even try their hands at milking! They also got the see how the milking cows are housed, rotated through the milking process, etc.  We left there and headed down to the Bell farm.  I think this was their favorite part, because this is where all 1500+ baby calves are kept and of course they couldn't keep their hands off of them.  The kids really got a kick out of it when the calves started sucking on their fingers!! 

The DPS staff were nice enough to accommodate us on a Saturday and they were very patient with our kids and very informative to the kids AND the parents!  DPS also included a little write up about our visit in their February 2011 "Moosletter"!  I am sharing the link so that each and every one of you can take a look at it and remember what a great time we had on our "first group trip"!
DPS Moosletter - February 2011

They Survived...

Well, 4-H Camp 2011 has come and gone and the campers survived! Four out of the five who went were first time campers and I think they faired better than their mamas did without them.  They all made it home and have lots of stories to share.  The kids got to participate daily in a number of classes of their choice, everything from  kayaking, canoeing, fishing, archery, arts & crafts, sewing, and much, much more! They also had free time throughout the day to swim and play sports and other games with their friends.  Skits, dances, group games and campfires also occupied their time at night.  They were also joined at camp by 4-H kids from Citrus and Hernando counties so they have made many new friends and memories.  I'm sure there is so much more that I haven't been told about yet (as my child is the type that you have to p-u-l-l the information out of).  All I know is that they had fun and that's all that matters!!! 

Horsin' Around

Last night we had a great 4-H meeting!  We had a special guest, Charley Nelson, and he gave us a little talk about horses - their uses, how to care for them, and some general horse safety.  We also got the to watch Mr. Charley freeze brand a horse.  He showed us the whole procedure, from start to finish and, and explained why it is necessary to brand a horse.   This was a great learning opportunity for the entire group and we are thankful that he chose to join our club for the night!