As parents, we have all been in the place where the our child asks, or more like begs for a family pet. For the kids of the Glenview Clovers 4-H club that begging is likely not for a dog or cat but a lamb, pig or cow. As members of the club they get the chance to actually purchase and raise farm livestock and take them to the county fair. The first step in the journey is actually getting the animal. Last Saturday we caravaned down to Culver, Indiana to Kelly Hoffman's farm to pick out lambs. When we got there Kelly had all of the 13 lambs in a pen. As an introduction, Kelly talked to the kids about what to look for in a market animal, breed characteristics and even some showing techniques. After the demonstration it was time to have the kids pick out their animals. It was so neat to watch them select which lamb was to be theirs. I walked around the pen and asked some of them how they had arrived at the animal that they had chosen. While some of the kids recited points that Kelly had mentioned in his program others gave the honest answer, "this one is the cutest". Days like this are the reason that I do the job that I do. To see the kids having so much anticipation and fun makes it all worth it.
