Webster Co. 4-H’ers weather muggy show ring
Weighing in at 1,325 pounds, Sid the steer reigns supremeBy SANDY MICKELSON, Messenger staff writer
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Fact Box
2008 Webster County Fair schedule
Today
8 to 10 a.m. - Pancake Breakfast (outside), Des Moines River Valley Tractor Club
8:30 a.m. - Open Class Flower Show, auditorium, east wing
8:30 a.m. - Open Class Garden Show, auditorium, east wing
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Make and Take by Family Quilt Shop, east wing
11 a.m. - Curt Bacon Remote Controlled Cars Race
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Free Watermelon Feed sponsored by Webster County Farm Bureau
Noon - 4-H Horse Show, arena
Noon to 2 p.m. - Antique Tractor Pull
1 p.m. - Kid's Pedal/Tractor Pull sponsored by Webster County Farm Bureau
1 p.m. - Mud Volleyball open to public, $10/team
5 p.m. - Red Cross Ducks Against Disaster Fundraiser
5 to 7 p.m. - Sweet Corn Feed, $6/ticket, sponsored by Fort Dodge Chamber
7 p.m. - Auction in east auditorium
7 p.m. - Moto Cross, adults $8, children $3
7:15 p.m. - 4-H Pie in the Face Fundraiser sponsored by the 4-H Council
During grandstand events - Wood Carving Auction
All day - 4-H Working exhibits, auditorium, starting at 9:15 a.m., bring the family to participate in crafts
All day - New machinery outside displays; 4-H auditorium exhibits open for viewing; Lynn Anderson, chainsaw artist; Des Moines River Valley Antique Tractor Display and Demonstrations; Monster Truck Rides; Zerbini Family Circus, free
2008 Webster County Fair Beef Show winners
Trevor Larson, Callender Chargers, champion commercial heifer, supreme champion breeding female.
Jaclyn Rittgers, Gowrie Groundbreakers, champion feeder calf.
Mason Phillips, Washington Winners, champion interview bucket bottle calf.
Alex Alliger, Gowrie Groundbreakers, champion market heifer, reserve champion market animal, intermediate showmanship.
Aaron Martin, Nifty Newark, champion top 10 rate of gain.
Erica Rittgers, Gowrie Groundbreakers, reserve champion feeder calf, grand champion feeder heifer.
Preston Fevold, Callender Chargers, champion shorthorn, senior showmanship.
Alyssa Lundgren, Dayton Tigers, champion purebred female.
Haleigh Batterson, Dayton Tigers, supreme champion market animal, champion crossbred steer.
Jossie Ferrari, Dayton Tigers, junior showmanship.
Torrie Ferrari, Dayton Tigers, champion cow-calf, champion Charolais.
Alexis Hanson, Country Charmers, supreme reserve champion female.
Dylan Anderson, Gowrie Groundbreakers, champion bucket bottle calf, most efficient records.
Muggy summer breezes barely cooled the air inside the show-ring arena at the Webster County Fairgrounds on Friday, but those watching the beef show didn't seem to care.
With just 37 4-H'ers showing beef, and several classes with just one or two entries, the show moved along quickly, and right around noon 13-year-old Haleigh Batterson of the Dayton Tigers received the nod for supreme champion market animal with her 1,325-pound steer, Sid. The steer had been named champion crossbred steer earlier in the day.
Sid will make the trip to the Iowa State Fair in early August.
Taking notes on each class, Carol Heatherington, of Otho, sat in the bleachers waiting for her grandchildren, Anna and Adam Heatherington, to show. Close by, Janet Kinne, of Vincent, took video footage when her grandchildren came into the ring in Class 5, crossbred market steers.
Aaron Martin won the rate-of-gain category with a steer that gained 4.7 pounds a day. It topped out at about 1,600 pounds. His sister Stephanie's steer gained slightly less per day - 4.09 pounds, good for No. 2 in the rate-of-gain class. The two belong to the Nifty Newark 4-H Club.
Weekday mornings usually bring families of 4-H'ers to the fairgrounds. Things don't start getting busy until later in the day.
Inside the auditorium Friday morning, 7-year-old McKayla Dozier and her 5-year-old sister, Lydia, looked over the exhibits, asking their mother, Roxanne Dozier, of Ogden, questions as they went along.
Roxanne Dozier said she brought the girls and their 18-month-old brother Cale to the fair to watch their cousins Torrie and Jossie Ferrari at the beef show. They are members of the Dayton Tigers club.
''They were happy,'' Dozier said. ''I think they'd be happy, no matter what.''
What may have made them happy, though, was the fact that Jossie won junior showman honors, and Torrie won the cow-calf championship and also showed the champion Charolais.
In the dining area of the auditorium, 4-year-old Haylee Welter, daughter of Kellie and Gary Welter, of Gowrie, sat with a group of 4-H'ers having lunch. Though she's not in 4-H yet, she's ''about to show animals when I'm 5.''
She did take part in the wee ones sheep show Wednesday, and is looking forward, she says with waving hands, to showing sheep when she's in 4-H. Heck, she's just looking forward to being in 4-H.
''I have my own sheep,'' she said. ''One is Josh and Cory and Freckles and Drake. And I know how to cook toast in the toaster.''
And yes, she said, she can sew, too. After all, she did sew together a Build-a-Bear.
Welter's sisters, Mariah and Liz, were filmed a while back by Iowa Public Television in the segment ''The Road to the State Fair,'' which will be shown sometime during the 10 days of the Iowa State Fair.
People visiting the 4-H exhibits stopped to see the quilt made for the 4-H Foundation as a fundraiser. Area quilters and 4-H'ers made blocks that were dropped into a quilt designed by The Family Quilt Shop owner Cindy Kaufman. Each block has a number, and people are asked to vote for their favorite block. Winners get prizes and the Foundation gets the money.
Kaufman will run a make-it-and-take-it booth at the fair today, with that money also benefiting the 4-H Foundation.
Outside the exhibit building, a volleyball mud pit had been bulldozed and as 3 o'clock rolled around groups of players gathered, some practicing hitting the ball, others just having a good time laughing in the sunshine.
The M2 team - the Mitchell family - took the first best two out of three, taking the next step toward the volleyball championship.
Still, on a hot and humid Friday afternoon, winning didn't really matter to those playing in the muddy water.
Contact Sandy Mickelson at (515) 573-2141 or smickelson@messengernews.net
