4-H in Beaverhead County

Published: 2022
By Jessica Murray

The Beaverhead County 4-H Program includes 145 youth in eight clubs. Youth ages 6-19 are given the opportunity to explore education and interests by participating in activities. Sixty adult volunteers help to deliver the program to the county’s youth. The 4-H program works annually to involve youth in weed management through attending Beaverhead County Weed Day. Each year, 4-H members take a Saturday in July to remove noxious weeds from our county. Each member is given colored tape to mark their bags of weeds pulled and at the end of the day, the member with the most bags wins a prize. This year, members of the Beaverhead County Weed Department and 4-H did a weed pull at Blacktail Meadows and removed nearly 15 contractor bags full of noxious weeds. Market animals were a popular project again this year with 114 market projects and 20 breeding projects. Youth learn the responsibility of caring for an animal while also taking part in the farm-to-fork concept of the livestock industry. Beaverhead County held various species-specific livestock quality assurance programs to help members understand how to care for their animals properly. After a very successful livestock sale at the fair, the carcass results proved participants in Beaverhead County Fair knew how to feed animals. We had 15 participants receive Symbol of Excellence awards, three Steer of Merit awards, and 12 Certified Lamb awards, which certify high-quality standards in animal care. Other projects were popular at the fair this year as well. We had 4-H members bring projects ranging from knot-tying and robotics to baking and poetry. These members are interviewed about their projects and other life skills they learn. The various judges and sponsors commented on the high level of work displayed in projects inside the fair building.