Dairy kids get their time in the sun at Holmes County Fair

For many youth the Holmes County Junior Fair sale means a time to take their market animals to the ring and sell them to the highest bidder, ensuring all their work and diligence in caring for their market animal brings them a financial windfall.

However, because the dairy club 4-Hers don’t sell their animals at market, they don’t see the financial gains through selling their animals, despite putting in the same amount of time, energy and expense.

With that in mind, the dairy 4-Hers and advisers came up with a game plan that has helped generate funds for each member of the club.

On Friday, Aug. 9 at the annual Holmes County Fair, the entire 4-H dairy club ensemble gathered in the main arena in the expo center to auction off many donated items including plenty of milk, which generates a nice sum of funds that are then divvied up among the dairy club 4-Hers.

What is nice about this auction is it rewards club members who invest more time and effort into the program, as well as those who earn a variety of standards during the fair, meaning the harder each 4-Her works, the bigger percentage of the overall funds they earn.

The 4-H kids worked their way among the crowd, displaying the auction items, and in the end, it proved to be another sensational auction for the dairy kids because, much like the livestock sale, they receive incredible support from the community, who recognizes the effort and work that goes into raising and caring for the dairy animals.

“This is extremely important for us because we don’t get to sell our animals at the livestock sale, so this helps us get some profit and stay connected with the community,” said Laina Croskey, a senior at West Holmes High School who is among several seniors who have poured themselves into the program over the many recent years.

Croskey had a banner year at this year’s fair, where she earned first-place honors for her spring calf, fall calf, Reserve Junior Fair Holstein, grand champion Holstein and supreme champion.

The way the 4-Hers further their funds through the auction is based on their effort. According to Croskey, there is a point system based on how many animals each member shows, and their showmanship rankings also are included, so the more animals they bring and show at the fair, the larger their portion of the proceeds grow.

“All of the profits from the sale are distributed according to the point system,” Croskey said. “So everything we do and the effort we put in definitely matters.”

She also said the dairy committee members are grateful to the community for showing up to support their auction at the fair.

“That’s something that we are so appreciative of, and we won’t ever take it for granted,” Croskey said. “It’s so amazing to see the way everyone supports our 4-H program.”

In the end the dairy auction is a defining moment and an appropriate way to reward a group of young people who invest themselves into animal projects that don’t always garner a great deal of attention but require the same commitment level of raising any type of fair animal.