Forever Buds Named the 4-H Club of the Year

The Forever Buds 4-H club was named club of the year at the Richland County 4-H Achievement Day. The annual event was held on Sunday, October 23, 2016 at the Richland County Event Center and was hosted by the Missouri River Ranchers 4-H Club. This event is a time for 4-H members, leaders and parents to celebrate all the accomplishments throughout the past 4-H year.

The Friend of 4-H award is given to a business, family or individual who has gone above and beyond to help the 4-H program. The award this year was given to J.J Hovde and Wendy Becker for their continued dedication to the 4-H program through their education and technical support of the livestock projects. Both Hovde and Becker give unselfishly of their time during the fair to run ultrasound tests on all market livestock projects, to ensure that all Richland County youth with market projects learn more about their project and are entered in local and state ultrasound contests. Both are a huge asset to the program.

Achievement Day serves as a day of celebration. A day to highlight the accomplishments of those involved in the Richland County 4-H Program. There are many different awards that are presented to members and leaders for their dedication to 4-H throughout the year.

This year's Helping Hand Award was awarded to Dillon Lunderby. The Helping Hands Award is presented each year to a member that shows not only great leadership, but also a willingness to go out of their way to help others in the 4-H program. We would like to thank Duane and Sherry Mitchell for sponsoring this award.

We would also like to thank the Sidney Area Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring the awards for the Jr. Members. Receiving the trophies this year were: Top Jr. Beef Judge – Braden Kindopp, Top Jr. Swine Judge –Jaylen Baxter, Top Jr. Sheep Judge – Garrett Larson, Top Reasons- CJ Nevins, Top Jr. Overall Judge – Jaylen Baxter, Top Jr. Girl Demonstrator – Jori Horsburgh, Top Jr. Boy Demonstrator –Corbin Steinbeisser, Top Crown Demonstrator – Becca Deming, Top Jr. Public Speech- Amariah Hier, Jr. Fashion Revue - Lauren Prevost and Top Jr Quilt – Trey Schepens.

Shooting sports is by far the most attended activity in 4-H throughout the nation. The past year consisted of 6 shoots in the disciplines of Air Rifle, Archery and Air Pistol. Winners of each category are as follows: Top Sr Air Rifle-Holly Bouchard, Top Intermediate Air Rifle Shane Waltner, Top Jr Air Rifle- Dalton Bouchard, and Most Improved Air Rifle- Grace Klempel. Top Sr Archery-Holly Bouchard, Top Intermediate Archery-Beth McMillen, Top Jr Archery-Corbin Mullin and Most Improved Archery-Liam Steinbeisser. Top Sr Pistol-Sierra Osborne, Top Intermediate Pistol –Colten Dahl, Top Jr Pistol-Lily Waltner and Most Improved Pistol- Jaxsen Reuter.

The shotgun program was also brought back this year. In the shotgun division the winners were: Top Sr Shotgun – Sierra Osborne, Top Intermediate Shotgun- Colten Dahl, Top Jr Shotgun- Wyatt McPherson and Most Improved Shotgun- Chace Waters.

The Horse committee presented awards to Shaylee Dean as the All Around Rookie, Allison Lander as the All Around Junior and Randy Lander as the All Around Senior. The Silver Spur award is given to a person that has dedicated their time and skills to help make the horse program here in Richland County a better program. This year the Silver Spur award was given to two very special ladies, Waynette Molloy and Pat Wick.

The family of Brad Carnduff also has started a memorial in his name. This year at Achievement Day the first award was given. This year a beautiful saddle and matching tack was given to a 4-H member through a drawing. The winner was Allison Lander. The family hopes to continue this award in Brad's name.

Linda Simonsen, the local poultry leader also gives an annual poultry award. This year that award was given to Cade Verschoot.

The carcass champion awards go to the top beef, lamb, hog and goat carcass from the fair. This year the top beef carcass went to Sierra Osborne, the top lamb carcass went to Kynlee Vitt, the top swine carcass went to Garrett Youngquist and top goat carcass went to Madison Sparks.

New awards in the livestock projects were decided on and given by the 4-H Livestock Committee. These awards are based on average daily gain of the market animal, live placing at the market show during the fair and the carcass data. The Overall Species champions were: Market Beef- Tana Kostelecky, Hog- Bryar Lange, Sheep- Sierra Osborne and Goat- Will Sparks.

The Gorder Family presented livestock grants to Mya Jorgensen, Taryn Hagler and Mazie Madison for their projects. These scholarships are given to 4-H members to help them in their projects in memory of Brodie Gorder through the Brodie Gorder Memorial.

4-H is geared towards teaching youth lifelong skills that will aid them throughout their life. One skill that 4-H members learn is how to keep accurate and detailed records. Members received recognition for their outstanding record books. The Sr. winners were: 2nd place record book- Jordan Baxter and 1st place record book- Kyle Topp. The Jr. winners were: 2nd place record book- Garrett Larson and 1st place record book- Marett Schieber.

Members receiving a plaque recognizing ten years of membership were; Taylor Fink, Brady Gorder, Bryar Lange and Garret Leland.

Without the outstanding group of volunteer leaders in the 4-H program, many activities would not be possible. These leaders give up personal time to ensure that youth have the best experience in the 4-H program. Receiving the award of the Silver Clover for 5 years of service were: Amy Conlin, Brian Bouchard, Chris Torgerson, Jill Carpenter, Susan Wright and Trish Buxbaum. Receiving a Pearl Clover for 15 years of service was: Donna Coffman. Receiving a Diamond Clover for 20 years of service were: Edwin Reis and Linda Reis. Receiving an Emerald Clover for 25 years of service was: Pat Wick.

The Richland County Leader's Council also decided to give two new awards this year as well. The new awards are called the "I am 4-H" Award and the Outstanding 4-H Volunteer Award. The "I am 4-H" Award goes to a 4-H member who is an outstanding member in all aspects, promotes excellence in 4-H and personifies the true spirit of 4-H. The recipient of this award was Garret Leland. The Outstanding 4-H Volunteer Award goes to leaders who have been involved in recruitment, training, education or promotion within the 4-H program. This year Larry and Stephanie Hatter were honored with this award.

Every year the clubs have 4-H displays throughout the county to celebrate National 4-H Week. The Award for Best Window Display went to the Three Buttes 4-H Club.

Achievement Day was a big success in celebrating all the accomplishments and hard work of 4-H youth, parents and volunteers over the past year. Congratulations go out to all involved in the 4-H program.