Submitted by Chapter Reporter Rhett Samper
O’NEALS – Spring Valley 4H-ers have been very busy this spring season and our members have been representing our club extremely well in a variety of activities.
Horse Expo was held on Sunday, Nov. 9 at the Madera County Fairgounds, where our members received the following medals:
Level 1: Natalie Medrano & Maegen Redman
Level 2: Gracia Ellis
Level 3: Natalie Anselmo
Mini Member : Ada Miller, 1st place
Special awards were also presented to Jake Dowell 1st place goat; Tyson Ellis 1st place lamb and Ella Vermuelen 1st place setting.
Favorite Food Days was held on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Minarets High School. Our members received the following awards:
Candies: Jake Dowell, 3rd Place
Main Dish: Noveli Longatti, 2nd Place
Special Occasion/Place Setting: Grace Nelson, 2nd Place
Small Animal Expo was held on Sunday, Feb. 8 at Madera County Fairgrounds. Our members received the following medals:
Level 1 Rabbit: Morgan Pelowoski and Matthew Shellar
Level 1 Poultry: Michael Shellar
Level 2 Poultry: Ella Vermeulen
County Presentation Day was held on Saturday, Mar. 14. Our members received the following awards:
Morgan Pelowski – Gold medal
Emily McDougald – Gold medal
Kari McDougald – Gold medal
Briar Schweikert – Gold medal and will continue on to regional competition
Large Animal Expo was held on Sunday, Mar. 22 at Madera County Fairgrounds. Our members received the following medals:
Level 1 Swine: Morgan Pelowski, Zac Redman, Ian Lowndes
Level 1 Goats: Briar Schweikert
Level 2 Goats: Tyler Jones
Level 1 Dairy Goat :Janie Alven
Level 4 Dairy Goat: Jake Dowell
Horse: Our horse group made quite an impression at the Chowchilla Fair Horse Show on Saturday, Mar. 28 thanks to Ryan McDougald, Madi Pearson, Gracia Ellis, and Maegen Redman; we received a plethora of ribbons. Madi Pearson will be advancing to Round Robin Showmanship, as she took 1st Place in Advanced Horse Showmanship.
Poultry: Our poultry group has been busy participating The Fresno Poultry Show, as well as the Stanislaus Poultry show . In Stanislaus on March 15th , Michael received 1st place in poultry knowledge and Tyler Jones received a 1st place in the obstacle course.
Rabbit: On March 14th Spring Valley 4H Rabbit group competed in the American Rabbit Breeders Association State Show where Matthew Shellar received a 1st place in fur with his rabbit Fenley. Morgan Pelowoski and Her Black Mini Rex Buck won his class and then went on to win BOSV (which is Best Opposite Sex of Variety) and he received a LEG. Morgan also showed at the 4-H Youth show in Paso Robles on March 28th where her Black Mini Rex Doe won both her classes, then won Both Best of Variety’s and then went on to win Best in Breed and received 3 LEGS (which are Championship Certificates from the American Rabbit Breeders Association). Morgan also won 1st in Junior Showmanship out of 19 contestants.
Community Event: Color Me Green run was held on March 14th and hosted by Fresno County. High School Freshman, Ryan McDougald and her family had a great time representing Spring Valley 4H at this event.
Rocketry: Over the past two months, each member completed a 3 minute presentation to the group, launched our full scale rockets and helped at the Spring Valley Tinker fair. Attendees were Kari McDougald, Regan Lowndes, Matthew Sheller, Morgan Pelowski, Michael Sheller, Ian Lowndes and Luke Longatti. On Saturday, March 7th at Minarets High School, we completed our final rocket launch. Using the Estes Rocket Kits and the engineering principles that we learned this year, we launched several rockets from the soccer fields. On Friday, March 13th at Spring Valley School, the group helped at the Tinker Fair with Kari and Michael launching rockets for the attendees.
Livestock Team: We are excited to announce that our Spring Valley 4H livestock judging team took first place in the UC Davis State Competition on March 7th. The team consists of Shyann Mattes, Bailey Samper and Jordyn Samper. They are coached by project leader, Mr. Clay Samper. Spring Valley livestock team will be traveling to Louisville, KY in the fall to represent the state of California in the North America International Livestock Expo and compete for a national title. We are actively seeking sponsorships to help our team cover expenses of traveling to the competition.
Spring Valley 4H meets the first Monday of every month at Minarets High school at 6:30 p.m. Our next meeting will be Monday, May 4. Our community leaders are Barbara Bigelow and Sandy McDougald.
