4-H profiles: Walker looks forward to this year's fair

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Kimberly Walker and one of her Suffolk/Hampshire-cross lambs. Courtesy photo.
 

 

Hi, my name is Kimberly Walker. I am 16 years old and this is my seventh year in 4-H.


I can’t wait for the start of the fair on Aug. 28. I will be bringing my Suffolk/Hampshire cross lambs Chips and Salsa.


I have been exercising them and monitoring their weight gain so that they are the appropriate weight by the fair. In my sheep project, we’ve learned all about different breeds and diseases as well as things like how to shear our sheep, showmanship techniques and lamb science.


This year the fair’s theme is “1950’s: Let The Good Times Roll,” so we're all very busy planning our educational displays to put by our animal pens at the livestock barn.


But getting to the fair isn’t just about raising our animals – no, we also have to attend at least 80 percent of our monthly club meetings and 100 percent of our animal project meetings. We also have to do a presentation at either a project meeting, club meeting or our countywide presentation day event – whether that be an educational display, a presentation, a speech or a play.


This year my brother, friends and I earned a gold award doing a play that was a twist on “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent,” and it was a lot of fun. We also have to send out buyer letters and market our animals individually.


There are multiple ways to purchase animals at auction and it is very simple to buy an animal with another person and split the meat and the cost. For more information on this, contact the fair office at (707) 263-6181.


This will be my second year taking two market lambs to the Lake County Fair. In previous years at the fair I have shown my two Mini Rex rabbits and entered various still exhibits. This past year I was president of the Kelseyville 4-H Club. I also participated in the scrap booking, horse and leadership projects. I am also Teen leader of the countywide shooting sport project. This coming year I will be working very hard on my All Star project.


Outside of 4-H I am involved in the Konocti Rod and Gun Club, Lake County B.S.A. Venture Crew No. 44 and I volunteer at Wiloth Equine Center in Lower Lake.


My friends and I have been working hard all year to learn about our animals and prepare them for the fair. So please come and support FFA and other 4-Hers like myself by purchasing a high-quality, grain-fed, hand-raised animal at the Junior Livestock Auction on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 1 p.m.


The 4-H Youth Development program is a part of the University of California Cooperative Extension. For more information contact U.C. Cooperative Extension, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport, telephone 263-6838.


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