By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

NEW CASTLE, Ind. — In Henry County, livestock farmers aren’t the only ones having to make difficult decisions in an economy of higher costs. Kids hoping to recoup expenses on 4-H livestock projects are being introduced to the reality of inflation early in life.
Sam Fox, a 16-year-old from Knightstown, sold his hog at the Henry County 4-H Livestock Auction in New Castle last week, to Henry County REMC for $325. He noticed far fewer swine in the sale barn this year.

“I don’t know what caused that, high grain prices or lack of interest,” he said.

Though he works part-time for a farmer, he doesn’t live on a farm nor does he have interest in it as a career, despite having showed swine and cattle over the past eight years.

“There’s no money in it; with diesel being $4.90 a gallon, it doesn’t pay,” Fox explained.

“You’re going to see that at a lot of county fairs,” Liz McDonnell predicted, of lower participation because of feed and fuel costs.
McDonnell, an administrative assistant with Henry County extension who is in charge of the livestock auction, added as animals go, there will probably be more children who turn to showing small pets instead, such as dogs and cats. They’re less expensive to feed and transport.

Participation in other Henry County 4-H projects besides livestock, however, is up over previous years, especially in poster-making. McDonnell said in the five years since Bethany Ratts started as local extension’s youth educator, 4-H enrollment has gone up each year, thanks to her ideas for giving talks to local third-grade classes and hosting an annual winter “Project Night” showcasing the efforts of older 4-Hers.

“We have such an entourage of projects, that it appeals to all the kids,” McDonnell said, adding the local extension office evaluates projects each year to cull the unpopular ones and add newer ideas, such as sports posters and scrapbooking.

Livestock declining

This year, 124 animals – including cattle, goats, swine and others – sold at auction, down from 153 last year. Two years ago, though, participation was even higher, with 167 animals at sale.

Likewise, the receipts are down. In 2006, the auction total was $89,715; last year, it was $69,335. Last week’s auction brought in $51,560 for all livestock sold. “I think part of our problem, too, is we’ve had two large groups of 10-year members graduating,” McDonnell explained.

Last year, 30 18-year-olds grew out of 4-H; this year, it was 28. Only about a dozen or so first-year members showed at the auction this year, she said.

One of those was McDonnell’s niece, Audrey Fouts. The 12-year-old is the daughter of Bret and Kathy (who is sister to McDonnell’s husband, Bill). Audrey and her brother, Austin, raised two barrows and a gilt on the New Castle family farm, housing them in the McDonnells’ barn.

Brushing her barrow Copper – whose name matched his burnished hair – before getting into the show ring, Audrey said her mother was in 4-H as a girl and also showed pigs, as well as cattle.
“She won a lot of awards,” Audrey noted, adding that Copper had just taken third place in the swine competition.

Copper ended up fetching $375 in the auction, which was short of the $500 Audrey had hoped to receive, according to her aunt. “She was hoping to take that $500 and buy two hogs next year,” McDonnell said.

She added that brother and sister were both sorry to see their animals sold, though the adults in the family had warned them ahead of time not to get too attached to the pigs as pets.
Still, such feelings are not uncommon among younger 4-H members.

“There are a lot of tears that are shed out there,” she said. “These kids put a lot of time and care into their animals. It’s kind of hard to part from them.

“It’s a tough lesson to learn.”