4-H and Other Terms.

Happy Mother’s Day!

After reading my previous blog post, I realize that I may have used some nomenclature that not everyone is familiar with!

First of all, I mentioned that I had been an active member of 4-H. 4-H is a youth program which began operating around 1902 in the United States (according to Wikipedia, so use this at your own discretion). The Canadian 4-H Council website describes 4-H as an organization which has “been helping develop well-rounded, responsible and independent youth since 1913.” Both my parents were active members of 4-H in their youth so it seemed only natural that my sisters and I would follow in their footsteps. I was a member of the same club that my dad was in when he was growing up. While I was in 4-H I participated in many mandatory activities including public speaking, bottle drives, highway clean-ups, as well as the fitting (which is cattle show slang for grooming an animal for showing) and showing of my 4-H projects. The skills that I gained through 4-H are numerous and I feel have really helped me excel in many other aspects of my life. An example of this is the huge level of responsibility that 4-H teaches to its members; responsibility for one’s own actions as well as the community and country are key values within the organization. I truly believe that this is a great program for youth of all ages and the benefits that it gives its members later in life are uncountable.

Yesterday, I also wrote that I had had steer, heifer and cow-calf pair beef 4-H projects. Hopefully the difference between beef and dairy cattle isn’t too difficult to spot but just in case;

- Beef cattle are used in food production for meat. This does not necessarily mean that every beef animal ends up on the plate. Many farmers raise beef animals for breeding in order to raise cattle that are productive and efficient producers of calves which will be used for food purposes. This is exactly what my family does with our purebred Charolais operation. The foundation of our herd is the females; this is because it is relatively easy to gain access to a bull with good genetics (through artificial insemination programs) but without good females to breed, good sire genetics are a waste.

- Dairy cattle are used for the production of...wait for it...dairy products!

Some other terms which may be of interest to you are...

A cow is a female older than two years.

A bull is an uncastrated male of any age, although usually if the bull is younger than a year it is usually called a “bull calf”.

A calf is of any gender and is younger than one year old.

A heifer is a young female younger than two years.

A steer is a castrated male of any age.