Tuscarawas dairy 4-H’ers recognized

SUGARCREEK, Ohio – The 17th annual Tuscarawas County junior fair dairy banquet Nov. 15 drew about 250 club members, parents, dairy sale buyers and other program supporters.
The event was held at Dutch Valley Restaurant in Sugarcreek.
This year’s program had 81 dairy exhibitors with a total of 117 projects, according to Bobby Harding, dairy committee president.
He also reported on improvements to the junior fair dairy facilities paid for with the money generated by the dairy product sale.
Fans were purchased and higher dividers were installed between the cattle. More dividers and storage shelves were also installed this year.
Harding said this year’s dairy products sale realized more than $50,000. Sixty percent of the sale is distributed to exhibitors. Forty percent goes to the 4-H dairy committee to cover sale expenses and fund various educational and improvement projects, including the annual dairy trip.
Presentations. Better Bilt Storage Inc. of Sugarcreek received a Bonnie Mohr color print of a rural farm scene.
Dave Miller of Better Bilt Storage and his wife, Carol, accepted the framed print in memory of Dave’s brother, Tim, 46, who had lost his life in a silo accident earlier this year.
Each dairy product buyer present received a special gift in an elimination drawing to determine the winner.
A framed cherry bulletin board was presented to Dutch Valley Restaurant in recognition of their co-sponsorship of the dairy banquet. This is their donation to the dairy program.
Dairy committee members elected were Kirk Henry, 4-H parent; Craig Powell, business representative, and Debbie Gerber and Sharon Stocker, members at large.
Youth recognition. Each year Swiss cowbells are presented to 4-H dairy program members participating for at least seven years. The following received Swiss cowbells this year:
Matt Clarke, Josh Gaskill, Cody Habrun, Heidi Schwab, and Brittany Young, seven years; Ronnie Feller Jr., Kyle Henry, Megan Levengood, Dakota Stein, Liz Stocker, and Chelsie Wigert, eight years;
Bethany Clarke, Jared Harding, Adam Specht, and Andrew Stein, nine years; Lisa Feller, Christine Mutti, and Annie Specht, 10 years; Neil Brown, 11 years.
Exhibiting breed champions this year were Sue Feller, Ian Heter, Andrew Stein, Ron Feller, Caleb Garber, Annie Specht, and Jared Harding.
Showmanship champions were Mallorie Henry, Amy Donato, Nathan Steel, Christine Mutti, and Jared Harding.
Tyler Gaskill, Christine Mutti, Chelsie Wigert, Renee Harding and Nathan Steel received notebook awards. Also recognized were 18 interview judging award winners.
The musical program was “Very Dairy Entertainment” by several of the local dairy families.