As of January 2022, our members all had their calves selected, and they were being fed their grain rations. Lots were halter broke and starting to gain lots of weight by January. On Jan. 30, our Club hosted District Multi Species Judging. It was a fun day where members learned how to judge chickens, photography, horses, sheep and cow anatomy and tested our memory with a memorization station.
In February members competed in Public Speaking. There were lots of fun topics and our Senior Member, Jordyn Valstar went on to compete in Regionals.
March was a busy month. Our Intermediate and Senior members were allowed to participate in Interclub First Aid, sponsored by the Clubs. Our leaders put together a Virtual Multi Species Judging, where we judged Heifers, cookies, birds and flowers. At the end of March, we were ready for a Fun Day, so we booked the Sylvan movie theater.
April is always a busy month for our members. Our calves are approaching the finish line, and it’s time to make sure they are halter broke, and often they are having their first baths! We had a ‘mini-show’ at the Rimbey Agrim, so our calves got used to being hauled and in the facility prior to our Show and Sale. We had a speaker teach us about knot tying, which is very important for our safety and our animals’ safety. At the end of April we all met at Anchor D Ranch for our Interclub Carcass Judging.
May is an exciting month! It takes us quite a while to get the Agrim set up for our calves and buyers. We then had Highway Cleanup the next day, and after that, members rushed home to get their steers bathed and groomed since they needed to be at the Agrim bright and early Sunday morning. Our Show and Sale lasts two days, Sunday and Monday. Our members are often so tired, we skip school on Tuesday too, we still have cleanup to do and it is a very exhausting weekend! In May we completed our Community Service project (painted garden boxes and a shed for the Rimbey Community Garden). We also helped with setting up at the High School Rodeo at the Rimbey Agrim.
In June we did some tire recycling and had our Banquet where members received their awards.
In July, we decided to participate in the Rimbey Parade. We did awesome and got first place in the Rimbey Agriculture Category. It was lots of fun. We also had a camp out. In August we went to Sylvan and did the Wibit and had an Interclub swimming day.
In September we had our first informational meeting. There were lots of new members and it was very informative. We also had our calf selection clinic at Anchor D Ranch (Skeels Farm), it was an inter-club event (Winfield & Bluffton). We saw Garren’s calves and how they were doing.
In October we had our weigh-in at VJV Rimbey. There were about 40 calves, and all looked very promising for our May Show and Sale. We also had our very first meeting of the year.
In November we had our first tire recycling and we collected about 600 tires. We had our second meeting with a guest speaker, Kristen from Blue Rock Animal Nutrition. She taught us how to analyze our calves’ manure to determine proper breakdown of rations. We decorated the old schoolhouse at Pas-Ka-Poo Park, we even won second place! We also had a record book workshop.
In December we had a two-day farm tour. All the market calves are looking good and coming along nicely. We continued our tire recycling (loading up the tires to CRM trucks). We also had our potluck/Christmas party at the Agrim where we played games, had supper and a little meeting after the potluck.
Wishing you all a successful and happy 2023.
- By Club reporters Ellie & Aevyn, Rimbey 4H Multi Club
