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Lone Butte 4-H sets youth up for the future

The group has been running for about 47 years
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Kelly Meier and her sheep Hazel are members of the Lone Butte 4-H Club. (Kelly Sinoski photo - 100 Mile Free Press)

Leah Viscount slips her finger under the top lip of her lamb’s mouth.

“His teeth are dirty,” she said, then later: “Look he’s smiling.”

The eight-year-old, with her lamb Smores, is one of the Lone Butte 4-H Club’s cloverbuds - children aged six to eight. The group, running for about 47 years, is an institution in the community, offering children and youth the chance to learn everything from animal husbandry to communication skills, confidence and compassion for both animals and people in the outside world.

Leader Heidi Meier said some seven youth - aged 7-16 - are involved in the club this year, working on projects that include horses, sheep, swine, dogs and sheep. Her eldest daughter Hannah, 16, is also an ambassador with the B.C. 4-H Club, and helps teach the younger members like Leah and her brother Kayden, 9, who also has a sheep, Gunner. The group meets once a month at the Lone Butte Community Hall.

“What I hope they get out of it is organizational skills. I hope they learn compassion not just for the animals but for the other children,” Meier said. “What I see kids getting out of it is confidence, structure, lack of fear. My favourite program is the communications program.”

As part of the communications program, the youth are given four options in the communications stream, which includes public speaking, demonstrations and a speak and show. The projects require the kids to research their projects and then present what they’ve learned, providing them with skills that will likely help them later in life.

One youth, for instance, has taken on a gardening project this year, while Hannah once decided to demonstrate how to make butter. “We had to find a farmer who would give us cream,” Meier said.

Hannah, who has been in the program for nine years and is now working with her sheep Grace, said 4-H has “helped me become who I am.”

“I’m a lot better at public speaking, I can lead a group without any hesitation at all,” she said. “These are traits I think I wouldn’t have learned without being in 4-H for so long.”

As an ambassador, she said she’s been able to get the “inside scoop” on what’s happening with agriculture across the province. Although she hasn’t decided what she wants to do when she finishes school, working for the ministry of agriculture is an option.

READ MORE: Lone Butte 4-H Club kicks off season, starts projects

“It’s very interesting to learn about and see what’s going on above your level,” she said. “Helping animals and being exposed to this environment truly helps. It opens a lot of windows to things you might not have been exposed to before.”

For Leah, the work is just starting - and Smores is teaching her as she is learning from him. While unloading the sheep from the truck, Smores jumped out, going for a sprint around the parking lot before being caught. When asked what she likes about 4-H, she said: “I like doing crafts here and Smores is going to get smarter. He goes crazy and he always tugs me.”

Her brother Kayden, meanwhile, is hoping for the day when he can move on to bigger animals. “I want to try a horse but Grandma won’t let me,” he said.

Hannah’s sister Kelly, 12, said the sheep are her favourites and she’s pondering the idea of farming one day. “If they’re handled well when they’re young they can be good companions. And they’re kind of cute,” she said.

But while she will keep her sheep, Hazel, for breeding next year, others are earmarked for another fate - to head off to market. Meier noted while it might be tough, even the cloverbuds like Leah understand that “the lamb is not coming home.”

“It’s super hard for some kids when they sell the first lamb they’ve raised. There are tears for days,” she said, but added: “We raised them with the best life they possibly can and they’re going on to feed another family. There’s so much the animals can teach them even if it’s only within themselves.”



kelly.sinoski@100milefreepress.net

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Hannah Meier and her sheep Grace are members of the Lone Butte 4-H Club. (Kelly Sinoski photo - 100 Mile Free Press)
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Leah Viscount and her lamb Smores are members of the Lone Butte 4-H Club. (Kelly Sinoski photo - 100 Mile Free Press)
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Kayden Viscount, 9 and his sister Leah, 8, show off their lambs Gunner and Smores at the Lone Butte 4-H Club. (Kelly Sinoski photo - 100 Mile Free Press)
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Kelly Meier and her sheep Hazel are members of the Lone Butte 4-H Club. (Kelly Sinoski photo - 100 Mile Free Press)
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Heidi Meier, left, is the leader of the Lone Butte 4-H Club. (Kelly Sinoski photo - 100 Mile Free Press)