810-Lancaster AugustY6T2oo3
Kids Korner
Plenty Of Work, Fun, Smiles At Lancaster 4-H Fair
LOU ANN GOOD parents, Russell and Cheryl, her
Food And Family grandparents provided lamb
Features Editor care
LAMPETER (Lancaster Co.) “It takes two sets of grandpar
— Ten-year-old Megan Ackley ents to take care of a family of
knows that in raising livestock four,” said Megan’s grandfather
for 4-H projects, things don’t al- Charles Achley. They also cared
ways go as planned. for the lambs that Megan’s broth-
It certainly did not for her. er Josh, 13, was showing.
Her plan to raise lambs for 4-H Families are important to most
competition suffered a devastat- 4-H success,
ing blow several months ago In breeding sheep competition,
when neighboring dogs knocked Katrina Frey carried on the fami
down the gate to the pen where ly tradition when her champion
her two lambs were kept. bred and owned ewe was named
The dogs attacked the two supreme champion ewe over all
lambs, and Megan’s favorite did breeds at the Lancaster 4-H Fair,
not survive. Katrina’s grandmother Joan
“I miss Scooter,” Megan said MacCauley and her mother
of her deceased lamb. Nancy Frey have been instru-
Megan thought her opportuni- mental in showing sheep through
ty to show lambs in competition the generations under the name
vanished with the death of her Breezeview Farm,
market lamb. The lamb was a pleasant sur-
But rules allowed her to pur- prise to a rough start for the ewe.
chase a replacement lamb. So, “It was a bottle-fed lamb be
last week, Megan prepared Lily, cause its mom rejected it,” Katri
a Suffolk lamb purchased from nasaid.
Joanne Zimmerman, Reinholds. When the lamb was born on
Megan daily walked Lilly and George Washington’s birthday, it
Skittles in preparation for com- slipped between wooden slats in
petition. the pen. It was almost dead when
Well, almost every day. When found. The Frey family took
Megan went on vacation with her turns tube feeding the ewe
What would the 4-H fair be without food? Four-H mem
bers volunteer to sell and serve food during the four-day
event. From left are Jessica Biikenbine, 13; Heidi Smith,
12; and Katrina Smith, 14.
Life turned out better for Megan Ackley, 10, than she
expected. Several weeks ago, neighboring dogs broke
into her sheep pen and killed her 4-H lamb. Megan pur
chased a replacement lamb. Here she prepares Lily, a
Suffolk, for 4-H market lamb competition. Three
generations of Megan’s family came to watch Megan in
her first week of showing at the Lancaster County 4-H
Roundup. With Megan are her parents Cheryl and Russel
Ackley, grandparents Charles and Joy Ackley, and brother
Josh, 13.
around the clock.
The pampered ewe lived in the
Frey’s laundry room until it was
healthy enough to survive in the
barn with 65 other ewes.
The supreme ewe came from
champion stock. Its grandmother
was the supreme champion at the
4-H Fair in 1999, and her mother
Valentine-Breezeview 15 was
named champion bred and
owned in 2001.
Those champions had been
sired by a ram also from Breeze
view, which has sired champion
lambs all over the U.S., and had
been named top champion in the
whole country in 2000. The
Breezy View ram sold for $23,000
at a Missouri sale. That was the
top price in 25 years for a lamb.
Another lamb exhibitor, Shan
non Wettig, confidently prepared
her lamb Oreo.
It was the first year For Shan
non showing lambs.
The confident 9-year-old said,
“I watched the seniors. All I need
to do in the show ring is set her
up.”
Although it is her first year of
showing sheep, Shannon has ex
perience helping with the families
five horses, which her parents’
Tim and Emily Wettig show.
“I like to show sheep. They be
have better than horses,!’ Shan
non said.
Shannon said her lamb was
wild when it was purchased. She
walked it for a couple of hours to
calm it.
She also walked it every day
after that.' The stubborn little
black lamb named Charcoigtf
would fall down and play dead if
she didn’t want to walk.
At first, Shannon picked her
up and carried Charcoal to finish
the walk. But Shannon said the
lamb is very tame and coopera-
Winning is a family affair for Katrina Frey, who holds her homebred Suffolk yearling
named supreme champion ewe at the Lancaster 4-H Roundup last week. Katrina is the
third generation to continue showing Breezeview Farm champions. With her are her
grandmother Joan MacCauley, who oversees the breeding program; Katrina’s parents
Fritz and Nancy Frey, brother Freddie; and Aunt Chris MacCauley and her children
Betsy and Kyle; and Johannes Theis, a family friend from Germany who helped fit the
lamb.
In her first year of showing sheep, Shannon Wettig, 9,
faced the event with confidence as she prepared Oreo for
the show ring. “All ,1 need to do is get her ready and set
her up I watched the seniors do it,” Shannon eaid. 1
five now.
For 4-H’ers, the annual Lan- eral exhibits. Many of the older
caster 4-H Roundup involves 4-H’ers help with judging and
much more than showing ani- with conducting activities for
mals. Competitions were con- friends and fafnily who attend
ducted for talent, square dancing, the event.
line dancing, and all types of gen-