Sunday, September 27, 2009

Who's That Crazy Oregon State Beaver Fan?


What?

Soils Practice - Friday Sept. 25th.

Shayne Dinger and Raven Waldron prepare for the District Soils CDE.


Special Feature: Duripan. Site - LeeRoy Horton's Ranch



Shayne Dinger, Raven Waldron, Avery Overton, Andrew Miles, Tyler Meyer.



Avery Overton analyzes the duripan.


FFA District Soils CDE - Letter to Students & Parents

October 13-14th, @ Sherman County. Bus leaves at 10:00 on Tuesday.

We will be camping at Morrow County Fair Grounds. Students will need to provide their own food. We will stop at the Safeway in Madras if students need to purchase supplies.

List of students who have indicated to me they will be participating: Updated 9/24/09


Advanced Team
Avery Overton
Joe Carlon
Daniel Miles
Kori Worthington
Andre Borlak
Sydnee Bias
Adam Henkel
Linda Robles




Beginning Team
Shayne Dinger
Kody Worthington
Kourtney Worthington
JJ Smith
Felicia Bias
Raven Waldron
Andrew Miles
Brad Libolt
Wyatt Smith
Trent Emery
Conley Kittredge
Josh Hand



Official dress is not required for this event. Be sure to pack warm clothes and bring all your soils evaluation tools: knife, water bottle, calculator, clipboard, writing utensil, mud rag, boots and a rain coat.

Other items to bring: tent, sleeping bag, toiletries, towel, lunch, flashlight, cell phone…I’m sure I’m forgetting something…

******Students need to make sure they have turned in their pre-arranged absent sheet SIGNED BY THEIR PARENTS and their FFA participation/medical release form that I sent out the first week of school. Because of liability issues, students who do not have a pre-arrange absence form signed by their parent will not be allowed to attend the trip

Equipment Operation and Safety Contest

On September 23rd, seven of our North Lake FFA Chapter members met with the other Central Oregon District chapters in Madras for the Equipment Operation and Safety Contest.

Of course some of us got tired during the summer sitting in our tractors and driving around in circles. These boys: Jon Sprague, Joe Carlon, Avery Overton, Andrew Miles, Conley Kittredge, Brad Libolt, and Wyatt Smith didn’t. They took this contest very seriously and tried to beat out their competition.


The Equipment Operation and Safety Contest or Tractor Driving Contest, involved three parts: the safety test, where competitors took a written exam on common safety precautions and practices, the parts identification, in which competitors had to identify parts on the tractor, and the main event which consisted of the members actually getting behind the wheel of a tractor and swather.

There were five different courses the members had to complete. The first course involved driving the tractor with a short trailer attached. Members were graded on how quickly, yet safety they could maneuver through course without knocking over the flags, and how accurately they could back the trailer into a simulated shed.

In the second course, the competitors had to operate a swather. Much like the short trailer course, they had to maneuver through a maze of flags as quickly and safety as possible.

The third course, entailed loading pallets on a truck while balancing a bucket of water on top. In this course competitors were judged on how many inches of water was spilt from the bucket, how many inches the furthest corner of the pallet is from the stimulated headboard which is measured in inches, and other safety precautions such as riding the clutch and stalling the engine.

In the fourth course, the members had to balance a tractor on a trailer. Students were judged on how many pounds off-balance they were, and how centered on the trailer they got the tractor.

In the final event students had to attach an implement to the tractor. When attaching the implement, the students were judged on the number of attempts at hook ups, if they made sure the linch pins were secure and other safety measures.
All the courses were very challenging and were judged based on speed, skill, safety, and general equipment operation, but this wasn’t a problem for the North Lake team.

The advanced team: Avery Overton, Joe Carlon, and Jon Sprague, and the beginning team: Andrew Miles, Conley Kittredge, Brad Libolt and Wyatt Smith, both came out on top by placing 1st. This is the 3rd consecutive year both North Lake’s beginning and advanced teams have earned the blue banner in this event. In the beginning contest Sherman County placed 2nd, and Culver placed 3rd. In the advanced team competition Madras placed 2nd, and Crook County came in at 3rd.

Our North Lake FFA members did an outstanding job in this contest. Mr. Waldron said, “We have an edge over the other schools because we require all 8th graders to go through Tractor Safety Class and we have such a large number of experienced FFA students to choose from who have spent their whole summer in a tractor seat.” Five of the North Lake members also placed as individuals. Conley Kittredge placed 1st, and Brad Libolt came in 3rd in the beginning contest. Avery Overton placed 2nd, Joe Carlon placed 3rd and Jon Sprague placed 5th in the advanced competition.



Tyler Meyer, Kori Worthington and Hunter Kittredge attended the contest. Kori is the Central Oregon District Reporter. Tyler and Hunter will be the core of the advanced team next year after Joe, Jon and Avery graduation



Wyatt Smith, Brad Libot. Top Row: Jon Sprague, Conley Kittredge, Joe Carlon, Andrew Miles, Avery Overton.

Hunter, Tyler, Avery, Joe and Stetson discuss stragety before they compete in the tilt trailer event.




Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Lake County Fair

North Lake FFA at the Lake County Fair
By: Cheyanne Strong, Reporter


The North Lake FFA chapter stayed busy over Labor Day weekend showing steers, lambs and swine. Twenty-three FFA members took their Supervised Agricultural Experience project (SAE) down to Lakeview, and participated in the Lake County Fair. Members of the FFA Sheep club who participated were Adam Henkel, Gonzalo Reyes, Rafael Valencia, Shayne Dinger, Raven Waldron, Tylor Bryant, Keifer Watson and Avery Overton. Beef club: Sydnee Bias, Felicia Bias, Hunter Kittredge, Tyler Meyer, Cheyanne Strong, Kori Worthington and JJ Smith. Swine club: Amanda Dark, Lesley Dark, Josh Hand, Jessica Hand, Kody Worthington, Kourtney Worthington and Kayle Podijil.

In its seventeen year history, the North Lake FFA chapter has generally had between ten to thirteen members participating in the county fair. Last year they had eighteen members show. Beef Judge and Former Agricultural Teacher, J.B. Dimick, praised our local chapter and stated that we have more students involved at fair than most chapters in the state, even the chapters from bigger schools who have two or three advisors. Chad Waldron, North Lake FFA Advisor, stated, “The increase in participation can be traced back to a great 4-H feeder program. North Lake is very fortunate to have a plethora of good, devoted 4-H leaders who care about kids. Students come into my classes in high school excited about raising fair SAE projects and most know more about showing and fitting livestock than I do. I don’t have to recruit students to participate at fair; I just have to keep them interested.” Virginia Prosenick, Carrie Brown, Tami Dark, Sue Warmington, Debbie Hendrickson, Marie Kelly, Holly Vore, Hallie Nelson and Lois Miles are some of the 4-H leaders that have been especially helpful in training and preparing FFA students to compete at fair.

Avery Overton and Felicia Bias dominate the highlight reel this year. Avery’s lamb earned the Reserve Grand Champion Market Sheep, and helped Avery win the Grand Champion Sheep Showman, as well as the overall Grand Champion Showman in the Round Robin Event. The Round Robin Showmanship contest requires the two best showmen of each type of livestock to compete with each other showing all the livestock represented at fair. This year Avery had to show his lamb, as well as swine, beef, goats, rabbits and poultry.

Showmanship is an event where students demonstrate how well their animal has been prepared and trained, as well as the students knowledge of the animal species such as breed characteristics, meat cuts, gestation period, feeding requirements and livestock terminology. The showman spends many hours during the summer preparing their animal for the ring. Steers are by far the most demanding when it comes down to fitting and training before a show. The steer has to be broke to lead and to set up its feet in a square position to highlight the animal’s attributes and overall quality. Students are judged on how well the animal cooperates with showman during the show. The fitting of the animal is also taken into account. Each species of livestock has a different process and technique that best demonstrates the muscling and finish of the animal. “Finish” is a livestock term used to describe the amount of fat on the animal. Each species of animal has a specific amount of finish necessary to ensure a quality carcass. Too much or too little finish will make an undesirable carcass. Over the course of the Summer, students strive to come up with a specific feeding program that will produce the optimal quality carcass at the time the animal is to be sold at the market sale.

Felicia Bias also competed in the Round Robin Showmanship Event. She earned a spot in the event by placing 2nd, or Reserve Grand Champion Showman in the steer show. Felicia also had the Reserve Grand Champion Market Steer. Felicia not only showed her steer, she also competed in the open class show with her sister, Sydnee. Together they brought a total of ten animals to the fair: two steers, four first-year heifers and two cow-calf pairs. Felicia won the Breeders Cup with her first-year heifer which is a trophy for the best breeding animal.

Some other highlights during the weekend were Gonzalo Reyes winning the Sheep Average Daily Gain Contest, and Kody Worthington winning the Average Daily Gain for swine.

Cheyanne Strong’s record book won Reserve Grand Champion in the advanced category, and Raven Waldron won Grand Champion in the Beginning Record Book Contest.

North Lake FFA would like to once again sincerely thank all those who volunteered and sponsored awards, bought animals and contributed to the North Lake Pool. FFA members understand and are aware that hay prices are down and input costs and inflation keep going up, so we really appreciate all those who sacrifice their time and resources to help make our chapter so successful. Mr. Waldron stated, “I am constantly grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity of the North Lake community and their enthusiasm and dedication to ensure that agriculture and the FFA continue to be an integral part of our students’ education. North Lake is a great place to be an FFA Advisor.”


*FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for Premier Leadership, Personal Growth and Career Success through agricultural education.


Tylor, Gonzo and Raf discuss showing techniques and strategies while they wait their turn to show.





Front Row: Rafael Valencia, Tylor Bryant, Keifer Watson, Gonzalo Reyes, Kayle Podijil, Jessica Hand, Lesley Dark, Amanda Dark, Josh Hand, Andrew Miles. Back row: Kori Worthington, Adam Henkel, Raven Waldron, Tyler Meyer, Hunter Kittredge, Cheyanne Strong, Avery Overton, Kourtney Worthington, Shayne Dinger, Felicia Bias, Sydnee Bias, JJ Smith




Tyler Meyer competes in the Beef Market Class


Felicia Bias and Avery Overton



Wednesday, September 2, 2009

4-H/FFA Buyers' Dinner

A special thanks to all the buyers who support us and the 4-H at the Lake County Fair.


Thanks Robbi Fine and all the other 4-H leaders who organized and planned the Buyers' Dinner.




Here are some photo's from the dinner.