Haldimand 4-H Dairy Club begins 2024-25 season
By 4-H member Allie Heastont
On Monday, March 25, 2024 the first meeting of the Haldimand 4-H Dairy Calf Club was brought to order. Beginning promptly at 7:30 p.m. at the Canfield Hall, 23 members attended with an additional nine new members joining the club! The 2024 leaders representing Haldimand include Sue Passow, Heather Heastont, Arthur DeBoer, and Sara Tiersma.
To start off our meeting, we had a quick introduction where each member stated their name, year taking the club, and if they lived on a farm. Afterwards, sheets were passed out containing the outlines of this year’s club expectations and TD classic team’s qualifications. The expectations were discussed as well as a brief run over of events, fairs, and meetings the club was to participate in.
To lighten the mood, table groups were split up into equal teams and a game of dairy jeopardy was played! The game was close, ending the teams scores at 3,150 and 3,250.
Following, voting began, finalizing with Abbey Cocking as President, Jacquelyn DeBoer as Vice President, Evi McCutcheon as Secretary, and Allie Heastont as Press Reporter.
A silent game was played where the club successfully lined up in order of their birthdates. The night ended with some sweet treats and lots of chatter!
Looking forward to the bright year ahead with the next meeting April 22 at Arthur DeBoer’s Farm.
4-H Careers in Agriculture Club
By Evi McCutcheon
Haldimand County’s first Careers in Agriculture 4-H Club meeting was held on March 16, 2024 at McCutcheon farms, a dairy farm near Canfield.
Taylor Hoeflaak from Harwill Farms Mobile Feeds talked about her career as a feed nutritionist. She shared the different responsibilities involved with being a feed nutritionist, what an average day at her job is like, and what pathway she took to become a feed nutritionist. After that, she did a demonstration on a device called a “shaker box,” which is used to test the quality of cow feed based on the sizes of the different components in the feed ration.
Will Flederus from Grand River Robotics came to teach us about his career as well. He is a robot technician who works mostly on milking robots on dairy farms in the area. He talked about the highs and lows of his job and what is involved in maintaining and fixing a milking robot.
Afterward, Hayden Fox informed the club of a scholarship opportunity offered by the Haldimand Federation of Agriculture.
Our next meeting will be at W.J. Heaslip farm equipment dealership, where Katherine Hedley will talk about the job opportunities that the company offers.
4-H Pizza Club
By Rachel Iacurti
CANFIELD—The Haldimand 4-H Pizza Club had their second meeting on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at Canfield Community Centre. We made two new delicious pizza crust recipes – “Easy Gluten-Free Pizza” and “Whole Wheat Pizza” – and covered them with “Quick No Cooking Pizza Sauce”. We personalized our pizzas with a wide variety of toppings and popped them in the oven. While they were baking, we enjoyed a sensory experience smelling a variety of popular herbs and spices commonly used in savoury baking. Last but not least, we ate our mouth-watering creations hot from the oven. We’re loving every minute of this club! Shown is Harley-Lynn Atikinson with a fresh baked pizza.
