Home

Hayden — Shiloh Rozell is in it for the personalities. Dalton Ray is in it for the money. Andie Baker is in it for the responsibility.

Each 4-H member has a different reason to raise small livestock for the Routt County Fair in August. They were among dozens weighing in lambs, pigs and goats Wednesday at the Routt County Fairgrounds in Hayden. The steer weigh-in was in March.

Shiloh, an 11-year-old who lives near Oak Creek, towed a couple of white and brown goats behind her. She chose goats because she likes their personalities.

"They have personalities of chewing things up and jumping on stuff," Shiloh said. She also learns from the process. "I want to be a veterinarian when I grow up, and it teaches me to raise them and stuff like that," Shiloh said.

Dalton, a 9-year-old from Phippsburg, is raising two pigs. He's in his first year and is excited about raising and selling them. He plans to use the cash to pay his parents for the feed bills and the costs of raising his goat.

Dalton said he likes the pigs because they're warm and soft, and he acknowledged that it probably would be tough "letting them get butchered and stuff."

Andie, a 12-year-old from Clark, will feed and train lambs for the fair.

"It gives you a lot of responsibility," she said, "and it gives you a reason to do something and not be lazy."

Shealie Jenkins is starting her second year of pig raising. The 14-year-old Steamboat Springs resident plans to help her 12-year-old brother, Harry, who's raising 4-H pigs for the first time.

"I thought it'd be good to do something different and take on some extra responsibility and new challenges - and do something different for a change," Harry said.

Shealie said she was excited about year No. 2.

"I learned how the best ways to feed them are and how to make them gain the most weight," she said. "And having fresh food and fresh water is very important."

Harry said he was a little bit nervous about his first year.

"But I know Shealie will help me and tell me what to do right," he said.

Catharine Koroulis, 16, pretty much has the system down. She's produced grand and reserve grand champion lambs for the past several years.

She attributes her victories to hard work and good genetics in the lambs.

Catharine said she encourages youths just starting out to "just learn as much as you can and kind of observe all the information you can, even though it's hard, and create your own game plan as you get more advanced."