Southern Pride 4-H Club March Meeting

On March 1st, 2011 the Southern Pride 4-H club held their regular scheduled monthly meeting. The meeting has held at the Rockhill/Orbisonia Fire Hall. The meeting was called to order by President Katie Anderson. Pledges were led by Chance and Scotty Goshorn. Roll call was taken by News Reporter Gracie Long and the Secretary report was read by Vice President Liz Scott. Treasure Derrick Cramer gave the treasures report.
Under Old business: The tour to Brennemans Meat Market in January was well attended and members learned several meat cuts and how meat is processed. The Roller skating party held in February was attended by 30 members and family and all that attended had a wonderful time. Leader Carrie Anderson reminded all new members and members that have not signed up for their club project books to please sign up tonight. Also, sign up sheets for club T-shirts, Share-A-Project, and New Member contact information is available. Under New Business: The Ham Sandwich sale orders and money were to be turned in to Shannon or Lori Cramer at the club meeting. Delivery is scheduled for March 30th and details for pick up will be announced at a later date. The club toured K Bar K farm in Petersburg, March 5th all sheep project members attended and learned a lot. Community service project for the club is Adopt-A-Highway and it is scheduled for March 26th, plan on meeting in Shade Gap and 10:00 a.m. Leader Carrie Anderson reminded the club that each member must attend a minimal of 5 club meetings to participate and show at the Huntingdon County Fair. Club T-shirts and Teen Leader T-shirts were handed out. Dates set for the following projects are Flower Arranging, meet at Precious Petals April 5th at 5:15, Ceramics meet at TK Custom Ceramic Shop, Mapleton March 21st 6 -7 p.m. and for Scrap booking and Photography the club will be going to Sarah Books April 12th at 6p.m. A Dairy Beef calf was donated by Doug and Angie Parsons, all proceeds will be donated to the club. A special thank to Rebecca Parsons and Gracie Long who will be feeding, training and working with this calf. Jon and Jennifer Goshorn announced that they have project pigs for sale, any members interested in purchasing please see Jon or Jennifer. After the business portion of the meeting member Gracie Long shared her Bug project and members Shavonna Fegan and Keith Anderson did a presentation on Market and Breeding Sheep Projects. The club then split into groups to work on Livestock Projects. Game Leader Orion Sarra had a special Leprechaun Game and the Parsons and Long families provided a special St. Patrick’s Day themed snack. Meeting was adjourned by President Katie Anderson. The next scheduled meeting will be April 5th, 6:30 at the Orbisonia/Rockhill Fire Company.

Respectfully Submitted by: Katie Anderson, President

Southern Pride 4-H Club

Pictured, Back Row: Katie and Keith Anderson, Derrick Cramer, Kathy and Ken Soder
Middle Row: Tristan Hamman, Kolton Gaff, Garret Cramer, Joce Whitsel, Shavonna Fegan, and Xavier Wright. Front Row: “Little Clovers” Emme White, Alayna Gaff, and Camille Fegan.

On Saturday March 5th, members of the Southern Pride 4-H club attended a tour of K Bar K farm in Petersburg, PA. The farm is owed and operated by Ken and Kathy Soder and son Nathan. To begin the tour the club first learned about the Registered Polled Dorset breed of sheep. The Soders raise pure breed Dorset sheep that are usually raised for a meat product. Because of the unique reproductive genetic practices and quality of the breed, most of the ewes and rams on the Soder farm are used as breeding stock rather than meat. A very unique and rare (to this area) method of reproduction is practiced at the Soder farm. The method that is practiced is artificial insemination; the semen used for breeding came from Brittan. Many of the Dorset sheep on the farm are 50% British and very true to the original breed. The club also learned about feed management. Kathy and Ken talked to the club about the farms feeding practices and the difference between feeding a market sheep or a breeding sheep. Also, how sheep in comparison to other animals graze, and that sheep are very selective about grazing pasture. The club also toured the sheep barn and was able to see lambing pens that are called “jugs”. Ken explained how each ewe would spend 24 -48 hours in a lambing jug to help the ewe and lamb bond, before returning them to pasture. Because of the reproductive method used, 80 of the ewes are expecting lambs all within a week. The Soder family will be very busy lambing in the next 5 to 7 days. Southern Pride would like to thank the Soder family for taking the time to talk to the 4-H members and share their sheep farm knowledge.

Southern Pride 4-H Enjoys Roller Skating

The Southern Pride 4H Club enjoyed a night of roller skating on February 26 at the Blue Mountain Skating Rink in Roxbury. Members skated to the Chicken Dance and the Limbo. There was also girls only and boys only skating under the sparkling disco ball. Members participating included (in no particular order) Savanna, Shyanne and Keith Sunderland, Kolyan Parsons, Joce Whitsel, Savanna Whitsel, Katie and Keith Anderson, Lexie and Mason Parks, Morgan Cornelius, Brock, Blake, and Camden Woodward, DeShane, Scott, and Chance Goshorn, Gracie Long, Hannah, Paige, Alison, and Rebecca Parsons, Curtis Starr, Taylor Maslanik, Trevor Duvall, Derrick and Garret Cramer, Shavonna Fegan, Brandon Bream, Kendra Parsons, and Madalyn Cisney and many other family members and friends.

Submitted by Gracie Long, News Reporter