Sam exhibiting Rocky Mount Loot Spirit in the senior goat showmanship class at the Shu-Mil 4-H Achievement Day.

On July 9, 2013, Sam attended her first 4-H Achievement Day at the Recreational Hall in Milford. The idea of an Achievement Day is to allow 4-H members to have a “practice show” against their fellow club members. The name of Sam’s local 4-H club is Shu-Mil, so only Shu-Mil 4-H’ers showed up. At Achievement Day, every project that is completed by a member is on display for family, friends and other members to view. Everyone who completes their project is awarded a first place ribbon. If a member completes their project work (including judging of sample projects, public speaking or demonstrations and club involvement), they are awarded a gold achievement award.

Sam only enrolled in the 4-H goat project, so that day she had to pass in her completed record keeping sheet that had been tracking Spirit and Clover’s expenses since January 2013, and compete in a showmanship class. She also got her judging results back from when she placed four Nubian yearlings in May as part of the 4-H judging component. The record keeping sheet was handed back at the end of the day with check marks and smiley faces all over it, and Sam’s judging score turned out to be 61/100. She figures that was a good mark for a first year member who was just taking everything in at once.

For the showmanship class, Sam decided to use her 2-year-old milker, Spirit. Spirit was a lot calmer than Clover, so she figured that it would be easier to handle and show a goat that is laid back. This way, she didn’t have to focus on controlling the goat, but showing it instead. Of course, Sam and Spirit received a first place ribbon, like everyone else. She was competing against all of the other senior goat members (age 14 and up), of which there were three others (not including Sam). New to this year’s Shu-Mil Achievement Day was a Championship Showmanship class. The top junior and top senior members from every livestock project exhibiting that day (dairy, beef, goat, dog and rabbit) were invited to compete in the champion round. Sam didn’t make it in, but came away with a second place finish with Spirit.

After showmanship had finished, Sam and all of her fellow 4-H’ers gathered together for the awards in the hall, where Sam received a gold achievement in the goat project. She’s happy to say that every other member there that day was also awarded a gold achievement award in all of their projects. Afterwards, all of the members, their families and friends went outside for a barbeque and to pull some tug-o-war. Overall, it was a very successful day for all the members of Shu-Mil 4-H club.