Spring show and sale season wraps up for East Sounding Creek 4-H club
By Fallyn Duque
Welcome spring!
Springtime has really been a mixed bag of weather, but 4-H must go on, and I'm excited to tell you about our most recent events.
Time to work on our District Show and Sale catalogue. On May 5th, we brought our market steers to the Crossroads Centre, where Shellie Tattrie took a picture of each of us members and our steers to put in the catalogue. One of our leaders, Shelaine Woods, looks after organizing this, creating and editing the entire catalogue for our district, and hopefully you will get to see it floating around the community in the next few weeks. We are very thankful to Shelaine for all her time and creativity when it comes to building these catalogues. They are such a vital tool to our Show and Sale Day and when we are marketing our steers to buyers.
CLEAN UP DAY. Photo by Nicole Duque
GRADUATES. Photo by Nicole Duque
Photo by Nicole Duque
Dump clean-up: With all the snow melted away, all the garbage in the community dumps becomes an eyesore. This is beneficial to our club, because as a fundraiser, we get out our gloves and garbage bags and clean up all the garbage that has blown into fences and nearby properties. We are paid per dump that we clean up, and all the money goes into improving our club and covering the cost of ESC 4-H events.
As I have mentioned before, when you belong to the East Sounding Creek 4-H club, you have the opportunity to do multiple different projects. One is the "Pen of Three." This is where a member selects three heifers in the fall that are of like breeding capacity, and come spring, they are ready to be judged. This year's winner of the Pen of Three was me, Fallyn Duque. I was so proud to receive this award. Our family works very hard to breed for the best female replacements, and I am very happy that they will remain in the herd. There were many great Pen of Three projects. Brianna Lyster with reserve champion, and Coleman Norris with third place. Thank you to our judges, Shaina Griffith and Kindra Mashon, for judging our Pen of Three Achievement Day.
A huge congratulations goes out to our 2026 4-H high school graduates: Emma Westerlund, Rhett Rude, Aiden Andersen, Hayden Bingeman, and Coleman Norris. These kids walked across the stage, all receiving the Green Cord in recognition of 4-H participation, proudly presented by longstanding 4-H leader and supporter Juanita Wagstaff. Thank you for becoming such great leaders and role models for our club. We wish you all the best in your future.
Carcass Achievement Day: These steers are picked out in the fall and are raised alongside the market steers. It is all about feeding them the best and growing them to perfection (or AAA grade beef) -- yum! This project is all about the numbers, striving for the best points in cutability, fat thickness, yield, marbling, and carcass weight. Grand Champion Carcass Project belongs to Brianna Lyster from ESC, and Reserve Grand Champion goes to Klyde Griffith of Hanna. Rate of Gain was awarded to Coleman Norris of ESC, and his little sister Camry Norris of ESC won the Live Evaluation. Congratulations to all.
This will be the last 4-H report I will write before the big weekend. Taking place on Friday, June 12th at the Hanna Arena will be the Female Achievement Day. Presented this day will be all the yearling heifer projects and the herd projects. This day is all about the best breeding females of the livestock industry.
The 2026 Market Steer 4-H Achievement Show and Sale will take place Saturday, June 13th at the Hanna Arena. It's the biggest weekend for our East Sounding Creek Club, the Dryland Multi Club (Youngstown area) and the Hanna Rangeland Multi Club. This weekend is where you show and compete with other club members, hand in your record books for marking, and yes, that Saturday is when we all say goodbye to our 2026 friends as they are led through the sale ring, purchased and then loaded on trucks to go to a few more days of extra feed, then butcher.
I know I can speak for every 4-H'er when I say this day teaches us pride, confidence, competitiveness and good sportsmanship, how to keep going when we are exhausted, how to be humble and thankful, and most of all -- reality.
We are all in 4-H to learn how to be the best, kindest, most successful cattle owners and operators. Our families and we work hard all year on all of our projects, and the end is truly so rewarding.
In order to have successful projects at the end of the year, we must have buyers for our steers. Buyers do not just benefit us in purchasing our calves; they also benefit by supporting 4-H and getting top quality beef in return. These calves are finished perfectly, meaning the product is safe, nutritious, and delicious. Nothing compares to the taste of 4-H beef. There are also many other benefits to purchasing from a 4-H club. If you have any questions (no commitment required) or would like a catalogue, please contact your local 4-H club. There are many options for supporting 4-H when it comes to Sale Day. Remember, this industry is important. We all buy beef -- why not buy it locally, supporting education, programs, and families?
Contacts: Travis Foot with ESC Club at 403-664-0961. Cory McMillan with the Dryland Multi Club at 403-854-6120. Blaine Nelner with the Rangeland Multi Club at 403-854-0738.
Instead of submitting a recipe with my report this time, I would like to share something special. On our Show and Sale Achievement Day, 4-H will do a giving-back-to-our-communities project. For 2026, I would like to introduce three little piggies -- Larry, Curly, and Moe. These three little pigs are being put up for auction, and every dollar raised will go to support the Oyen and District Health Care Foundation along with the Hanna Hospital Auxiliary. So many ways to support 4-H!