Each year five organizations come together to put on a Junior Market Auction for sheep, beef and swine for youth in Douglas County.

Rotary, 4-H, FFA, Douglas County Livestock Association and the Douglas County Fairgrounds collectively work throughout the year to host the Lamb Show which will be held on June 7 this year, and the beef and swine auction on Aug. 8 at the Douglas County Fair. Much work is done by these organizations between now and then, but it is the youth of the county that are working diligently to produce the animals for purchase at these sales.

Many kids have already purchased their market animal projects. Skills learned while raising these projects include feeding the animals, recording expenses, grooming and health care, housing and fencing for the animals. For many participants this is a 10-month project full of responsibility. They are asked to keep record books and track their activity with the animal to show that they have worked and made progress with their animals.

These kinds of projects provide many opportunities for youth to learn essential life skills. They are being exposed to concepts like investing, budgeting, ethics, quality and record keeping. Through these projects they are also learning characteristics like trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

These kinds of skills may be learned through these projects, but are used in other aspects of their lives. Many youth graduate from the 4-H program and know how to do things like balance a checkbook because of their experience with tracking the price of feed, and the price of the animal in comparison to what they sell it for at auction.

In 2006, Douglas County was part of a statewide study by Mary Arnold, a 4-H Youth Development Specialist, which included six Oregon counties. These 557 4-H fair participants participated in a survey to evaluate herdsmanship, competition, life at fair and market animal areas. The survey indicated that, “market animal participants developed decision-making skills.”

The time spent working with their animals leading up to fair proved to be, “valuable for developing self-esteem and coping skills.” Thus providing evidence that the 4-H market animal projects and fair “plays a role in positive youth development.”

Adult leaders and volunteers are a major part of the success of youth developing these life skills. All leaders and volunteers go through a training process, and must attend an ethics and quality assurance training, so that they are prepared as leaders to guide their youth clubs to a successful project. They spend countless hours working with kids to make sure they are producing a quality product for consumption, and learning from the project.

In 2007, the time and energy of youth and adults generated $524,312 from the sales of the market animals at fair for the youth in Douglas County. These funds are typically used by the youth to reinvest in the following year’s projects or to save for college.

To learn more about the 4-H Program and ways to help within the organization, please contact the Douglas County Oregon State University Extension Office at 672-4461.



<i>Megan Ruhn is the acting Extension 4-H Agent for OSU Extension Service in Douglas County. She can be reached by e-mail at megan.ruhn@oregonstate.edu or at 541-672-4461.</i>