4-H
Each year 25,000 children from around Montana participate in the Montana State University Extension 4-H program. The kids gain valuable life skill and build friendships as they do projects ranging from agriculture to robotics and complete service projects in their communities. The Booth family in Livingston, Montana is a prime example of the 4-H legacy as father, Dale, himself participated in 4-H as a child in Noxon, Montana. This essay follows Kodie Booth from spring to fall as she raises lambs.
4-H families travel for hundreds of miles across Montana for the annual sale. It is considered one of the top sales in the state and began itself as a 4-H project. The 4-H program offers children the opportunity to develop life and business skills. Children Kodie and Dalton Booth have even earned enough money through their lamb sales to continue the business, put money aside in a college fund and pay for ski passes at nearby Bridger Bowl.
Each day, Kodie has to feed her lambs in the morning and evening and maintain the pens and barn where the lambs live.
Kodie and Dalton are among 25,000 Montana kids who participate in 4-H which is a youth development program of Montana State University Extension.
Kodie Booth, a fourth-grader from Livingston, Mont., does evening chores at her families small farm. The entire family is active in the Montana 4-H program where Kodie and her 13-year-old brother Dalton raise sheep for their projects.
A lot is on the line at the county fair in August where 4-H kids come to Livingston, Mont. from hundreds of miles away to compete and sell their lambs at auction.
Judges at the fair will use the competition as an opportunity to educate spectators, usually other 4-H families, about particular aspects of raising the animals.
The contestants listen as the judge offers feedback about their lambs and their performance.
Months of work paid off in August when Kodie's lamb, Buddie, won grand champion market lamb at the Park County Fair.