Meat and Greet: Wood County 4-H, FFA members ready for annual Jr. Livestock sale | News, Sports, Jobs

Bodee Walters of Saulsbury 4-H Club in Mineral Wells and the Blennerhassett FFA shows his animals during the 2024 Wood County 4-H and FFA Summer Showcase in Mineral Wells this week. The Jr. Livestock Sale will be held 12 p.m. Saturday at the 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road in Mineral Wells. There will be 219 market animals being sold this week. (Photo Provided)

MINERAL WELLS — A lot of care and attention are needed to raise livestock so they can bring the best price at sale as area 4-H members prepared for Saturday’s Jr. Livestock sale at the final day of the Wood County 4-H and FFA Summer Showcase in Mineral Wells.

For the last week, area 4-H and FFA members have shown and exhibited their projects. Livestock showings have been conducted for goats, poultry, swine (hogs), rabbits and beef cattle while others have shown horses and other animals.

The Jr. Livestock Sale is 12 p.m. Saturday at the 4-H Camp on Butcher Bend Road in Mineral Wells.

There will be 219 market animals being sold this week, said Lindsey Boso, 4-H Program Assistant and Club Volunteer with the Saulsbury 4-H Club of Mineral Wells.

“We hope the sale goes well,” she said.

Reagan Parsons of the Saulsbury 4-H Club out of Mineral Wells is in her ninth year of showing livestock. She was showing a hog this week as part of the 2024 Wood County 4-H and FFA Summer Showcase in Mineral Wells. (Photo Provided)

With breeding projects and more, there were over 250 animals being shown this week.

“There were 114 kids who showed animals this week,” Boso said. “We have quite a few new kids this year. They have done very well and have adapted very quickly.”

Reagan Parsons of the Saulsbury 4-H Club out of Mineral Wells is in her ninth year of showing livestock. This year, she is showing a fat steer and a pig. She has been raising the steer since after the end of the Showcase last year. She has been raising the pig for three to four months.

“You just go right into it,” she said. “You never really get a break except for maybe one or two weeks.”

Parson’s steer weighs 1,309 pounds and the pig weighs 257 pounds. Last year, she had a steer and a pig and she sold them for around $4 a pound for her pig (which weighed around 280 pounds) and her steer (which weighed around 1,430 pounds) sold for $6 a pound.

Emma Casto of the Rebels 4-H Club of south Parkersburg did Teen Leader and Charting projects as part of the 2024 Wood County 4-H and FFA Summer Showcase in Mineral Wells. (Photo Provided)

There is a lot of care and work that has to be done on a daily basis in feeding the animals to get them to a good weight to present at the Showcase, she said.

Parsons clipped her steer to improve its appearance in looking smooth all over. The pig was fed day and night, she watered it and for about a month she has been feeding the pig specific things including supplements to get it to a desirable weight to be able to show and be sold at the sale. There are times when they might weigh too much and she has to hold back on the feed.

“I am looking forward to the sale,” Parsons said. “I think we will have a good turnout.”

She is not sure what each of her animals might go for this year at the sale.

“It depends on who comes out and how much money they are willing to spend,” Parsons said.

Her animals teach her about being responsible as well as preparing her for the future.

“It takes a lot of work and effort to get your animals where you want them to be,” Parsons said. “It really depends where your project is at.”

All the kids showing their animals have to keep track of what they are selling for. Some will forego the livestock sale and sell their animals elsewhere if they can get a better price.

“They have to look at the prices of what things are selling for and what they will be sold for and each person has to make that decision on their own on what they want to do with the animal,” Parsons said.

Bodee Walters of Saulsbury 4-H Club and the Blennerhassett FFA (through the Wood County Technical Center) raised a market steer (1410 pounds), feeding steer (432 pounds) and a breeding heifer (950 pounds).

He talked about getting up every day at 6 a.m. and going out and feeding animals, cleaning pens, walking the animals and bathing them.

“I got them prepared so I could bring them here and they can do what they should,” he said. “I kept them calm and make sure they are suited for this environment.”

As well as how well the animal looks, those presenting them are also judged on how well they can maintain control over their animal in the arena.

Walters said he was regularly practicing in a space and acting like they were actually showing the animal.

“We just want the calves to be ready for here,” he said. “That is the goal to get them here so they can do their best.”

He is not sure either what his animals will go for at the sale.

Walters liked that there were a number of new kids showing animals this year.

“Many of us are aging out and it is nice to see the young kids coming out and showing,” he said.

Not all of the exhibits at the Showcase deal with livestock as a number of people showed “still projects” dealing with a variety of subjects, skills and more, including things like photography, art, woodworking, crocheting, arts and crafts, quilting, sewing, canned goods, gardening and more. They have exhibits by 4-H members, CEOS (Community Education Outreach Service) and open exhibits anyone could enter.

Emma Casto of the Rebels 4-H Club of south Parkersburg did Teen Leader and Charting projects.

Her leadership project detailed her volunteer work with camps where she did a scrapbook detailing all the things she did throughout the year. The charting project covered personal development detailing the four H’s in 4-H, Heads, Hands, Heart and Health and includes Self-Understanding, Critical Thinking and Decision Making, Communication, Leadership and where one is going.

“I learned a lot about myself and what I want to do with my life and my future,” Casto said of finishing high school, starting college and where she wants to go in life.

“I want to be a doctor and I want to go to college and get scholarships,” she said, adding she looked at what colleges she might want to go to and did career exploration.

Casto said she learned a lot about herself.

“Working at the camp as a teen leader always surprises me with how much I enjoy it,” she said. “To be able to see how much the kids grow and how much they come out of their shells during camp because of the teen leaders and counselors help, it is really nice to see how much we are able to push them out of their comfort zone and how much fun they have because of us.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com