Sam at the back of the line with Triple RT Farms doeling, Penny.

Today was Sam’s second 4-H Achievement Day, that took place at the Milford Recreational Centre in Milford, NS. Although none of the Summer Young goats were able to be shown this season, Sam still exhibited a Nubian doeling for Triple RT Farms in the Senior Showmanship class. The little doeling’s name was Penny, and was quite well behaved for her first time.

After exhibiting the goat in the outdoor show ring and collecting a first place achievement award, the competition moved to the front of the grounds, where the tractor driving course was set up. Sam was on her friend Heidi’s team, as well as their friends Lauren and Maria. She assisted with moving things around for the driver (Heidi).

The rest of the afternoon mainly took place inside the hall, where the lifeskills and non-livestock projects were set up, as well as animal record sheets and judging results from the competition in May. Not only did Sam participate in Goat and Tractor Driving this year, but she also took part in Photography and Veterinary Science. The requirements for Goat was to bring your animal and show it in the showmanship class, as well as complete a record keeping sheet on how much the animal ate, the cost and any health problems that occurred. In Tractor Driving, the project included completing a record sheet on what you learned, participating in a team driving event and creating a poster (in which nobody did). For Photography and Veterinary Science, a record sheet and three projects needed to be done for each. Sam obtained Gold Achievement in all of these projects.

Sam’s 4-H Projects

The items that Sam created for her Photography project were an album with 40 colour photos, a framed 8″x10″ print of her first horse, and a display board of 4 digitally enhanced photos taken from around the barn she rides at. In Veterinary Science, she made a poster on the Equine Circulatory System, a step-by-step instruction on how to administer an oral injection to goats, and a written biosecurity report on a dairy goat farm.

As for judging, Sam earned a 90/100 on Goat and an 83/100 on Photography. That’s a huge improvement from the low 60’s range in Goat last year. The class this year was judged at Fox’s Dairy in Middle Musquodoboit, NS, and was labelled “Saanen Dry Yearlings”. The judge who judged Sam was Ed Beltzer. The Photography class was also judged in Middle Musquodoboit, and was entitled “Horse Photos”.

The next step this year in the 130th Annual Halifax County Exhibition on August 13th, where the official judging placings will be unveiled, and all of Sam’s projects will be competing for a chance to advance to the Nova Scotia Provincial 4-H Show at the end of September.