Thursday, September 16, 2010

Lake County Fair Time!


Well, it has happened again. Fair has gone and passed, another year down in what seems like a blink of an eye. North Lake FFA stayed busy over Labor Day weekend. Twenty-two 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 competed were Adam Henkel, Rafael Valencia, Raven Waldron, Tylor Bryant, Keifer Watson and Kori Worthington. Beef Club: Sydnee Bias, Felicia Bias, Cheyanne Strong, Trent Emery, Conley Kittredge, and Brad Libolt. Swine Club: Amanda Dark, Lesley Dark, Josh Hand, Jessica Hand, Kody Worthington, Kourtney Worthington, Noelle Fine, Matt Henkel, and Destiny Laylon. We all woke up at the crack of dawn Thursday, September 2nd, to load our animals and head to Lakeview for weigh-ins. The members spent that afternoon getting their animals weighed-in, filling stalls with wood chips, and preparing for the competition. That night, the swine market class competed at 5:00 P.M. and beef market at 7:00 P.M. The members rushed around that evening getting their animals washed and fitted for the show.

Noelle Fine and Sydnee Bias dominate the highlight reel this year. Noelle’s swine earned the Reserve Grand Champion Market Swine, and helped Noelle win the Reserve Grand Champion Swine Showman. Noelle got the chance to compete in the Round Robin Showmanship contest which requires the two best showmen of each species to compete with each other showing all the species represented at fair. This year Noelle had to show her swine, as well as lamb, 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. It also takes into account the techniques used in the show ring to highlight the animals attributes and overall quality. 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.

Sydnee Bias earned Grand Champion Market Steer, and also Reserve Champion Showmanship Steer in her class. Sydnee’s sister, Felicia, wasn’t too far behind her winning Champion Showmanship Steer in her class. Some other highlights during the weekend were Raven Waldron earning 3rd overall in Sheep Showmanship, Jessica Hand earning 3rd overall in Swine Showmanship, and Cheyanne Strong earning 3rd in Beef Showmanship. Raven Waldron also won Grand Champion in the Beginning Record Book Contest.

I remember the very first fair all of us went to in our 4-H years, and it seems just like yesterday. It’s amazing how fast time flies by. North Lake is very fortunate to have a plethora of good, devoted, 4-H leaders who care about kids. Students enter agriculture classes in high school excited about raising fair SAE projects and most know more about showing and fitting livestock than our advisor does (Mr. Waldron’s words, not mine). These 4-H leaders like Virginia Prosenick, Carrie Brown, Tami Dark, Roxanne Hand, Sue Warmington, Holly Vore, Hallie Nelson, and especially Lois Miles prepare the students well for their FFA years to come. The FFA doesn’t have to recruit students to participate at fair; we just have to keep them interested.

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. The North Lake Chapter is 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.







Annual 4-H/FFA Buyer's Dinner


Every year, our FFA chapter joins with the 4-H groups in the area and holds a Buyer Appreciation Dinner for the community, to thank them for all the generous donations and support they give our members at the county fair. This year, the dinner was held at the Fort Rock Grange on August 20th. There buyers enjoyed a delicious meal, visited with FFA and 4-H members , entered a drawing for door prizes, and had the opportunity to view a slideshow showing pictures of our chapter's FFA activities.

FFA members Noelle Fine and Raven Waldron man the sign-in desk with 4-Her Kelli Brown.


Mr. Waldron grillin' up some grub!

Another big thank you to all our supporters and buyers. Without all of your generous support, our fair would not be possible.

Steer Weigh-Ins

Every year, ten to twenty FFA members participate in the Lake County fair. Some take a swine project, others lambs. And some, take a beef project. We tip our hats to all our fair participants, especially our beef showmen. They constantly take care of their fair animals, almost year-round even! This includes loading them up and taking them to weigh-ins. Our FFA members are also able to help the leaders and younger 4-H members with heir steers during weigh-ins too. It's a lot of work, but they'll be rewarded come fair time!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Hoedown Throwdown

Time for the FFA Chapter Hoedown! Every spring, we FFA members have a chapter "get-together" at Mr. Waldron's house. It's a time for FFA members to bond, build friendships, enjoy some of Mr. and Mrs. Waldron's delicious home cooking, and just have a good time. We also invite upcoming freshmen to help them get interested in the FFA and meet older members. Many hoedown traditions have formed over the many, many years it's been going on. Here are just a few:


Shop Skills Contest















On May 26th, twenty-seven of our chapter members headed up to Redmond for the Central Oregon District Shop Skills Career Development Event. Culver, Madras, Bend, Crook County, Sisters, Sherman County and the North Lake chapter all gathered in the shop of Redmond High School to put our skills to the test. In this contest there are many different events the members compete in. The North Lake chapter has been successful in this contest for over eight years, and has continued to place first or second. This year our chapter brought home a red banner. The Shop Skills event is a very exciting contest for all our members. There is always at least one contest that suits each person. This competition gives the students the chance to show off their skills and technique in what they do best. The contest is designed to help students make the connection between the relationships and the relevance of what they are learning in their agriculture and other academic classes. In addition to the obvious vocational skills and knowledge, students must also be adroit with basic English and math skills, such as correct spelling, fractions, times tables, measuring systems, metric/standard conversions, geometry and other mathematic formulas.

The following is a list of the members who competed and their individual placing.
















AG. I (Freshmen only)

Tool ID – Wyatt Smith, Josh Hand-3rd

Wood Working – Wyatt Smith, Conley Kittredge

AG I & II (Freshmen & Sophomore)

Beg. Arc – Conley Kittredge-1st, Andrew Miles-3rd

Beg Oxy-Acy – Trent Emery-2nd, Brad Libolt

Beg Spelling – Raven Waldron-1st, Rafeal Valencia

Beg Math – Raven Waldron-1st, Andrew Miles

Beg. Floral – Shayne Dinger-1st, Felicia Bias

AG III & IV

Adv Arc – Jon Sprague-2nd, Hunter Kittredge

Adv. Oxy-Acy – Andre Borlak, Avery Overton-3rd

Adv. Math – Kori Worthington, Cheyanne Strong

Adv. Spelling – Shelby Hopkins-1st, Adam Henkel

Adv Floral – Amanda Dark, Brianna Trout

Open

Crop ID – Daniel Miles, Avery Overton

MIG – Jon Sprague, Joe Carlon

Surveying – Daniel Miles/Andre Borlak-3rd,

Brandon Roark/Emily Little

Tool Sharpening – Elijah Puckett, Kody Worthington

Tap & Die –Lesley Dark, Chris Roark

GPS- Kourtney Worthington, Rafael Valencia

Electricity- Joe Carlon, Tyler Meyer

















Monday, August 30, 2010

Updates on the way!

Check back next week for all new updates and articles.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Sectional Leadership Contest

On Monday March 1st the Central Oregon, Strawberry Mountain, and Mount Hood FFA Districts gathered in Bend, Oregon, for the Sectionals Leadership Contest. Avery Overton, Joe Carlon, Jon Sprague, Raven Waldron, Kori Worthington, Shayne Dinger, Conley Kittredge, Brad Libolt, Andrew Miles, Wyatt Smith, Josh Hand, and Trent Emery, attended sectionals. This contest is a follow up for all the members who placed in the top two at the district contest. The events our members competed in were Prepared Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Parliamentary Procedure, Cooperative Quiz, and Chapter Books.

Raven Waldron competed in Beginning Public Speaking and her speech was intended to be three to five minutes long on an agriculture subject. She spoke about the issues pertaining to animal rights verses animal welfare. Raven did an outstanding job and handled the pressure very well. Raven placed 1st bringing home a blue banner. She will be representing the chapter at state in Prepared Speaking.

Along with Raven, the Beginning Parliamentary Procedure team will be competing at State as well. This team of freshman, Raven Waldron, Conley Kittredge, Brad Libolt, Andrew Miles, Wyatt Smith, Josh Hand, and Trent Emery, did an impressive job at this contest placing 1st. When it comes to debate on agriculture, this team knows what they’re talking about. This is the first year that the North Lake FFA chapter has sent a parliamentary procedure team to State! Congratulations to all of you.

Conley Kittredge competed in Extemporaneous Speaking. This contest is by far one of the most difficult. In Extemporaneous Speaking the member randomly draws topic to discuss, and has thirty minutes to prepare a speech relating to the subject. Conley drew the topic, Innovations in organic farming. Although Conley, a freshman, didn’t place, he did very well against his much older and more experienced competition.

Avery Overton, Joe Carlon, and Jon Sprague all took the Cooperative Quiz. This is a written quiz on agriculture business. The test involves multiple choice and true or false questions. An example of a true or false question would be: “Revolving capital financing is widely used by cooperatives and is particularly suited to their operations.” Avery Overton did very well in the competition. He placed 2nd bringing home a red banner and will proceed to state. At State, Avery will have to take a written test, and participate in two rounds of interviews testing his knowledge of agriculture cooperatives. Joe Carlon also did well placing third, but will not be moving onto State.

We had many members in the Chapter Books contest. Cheyanne Strong entered a technology scrapbook which is a Power Point done on the computer of our FFA chapter, and its activity over the last year. Amanda Dark entered a Secretary Book which is a record of all our chapter meetings and committee reports. Kory Worthington entered the Treasurer’s Book and advanced portfolio. The Treasurer’s Book is a record of all the expenses and profit that the chapter has made. The Advanced Portfolio is a Power Point of all her FFA and school activities. She placed 1st with her portfolio advancing to State. Shayne Dinger entered a Beginning Portfolio, and also placed 1st moving onto State. The Chapter Books as a whole placed 3rd in the sectionals competition. The hard work of the North Lake chapter paid off in the end of this contest. Well done members.