Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Lacie Greier, 10, shows off two of her 4-H goats for this year’s Canfield Fair judging and auction.

By J.T. WHITEHOUSE

Staff writer

CANFIELD — Lacie Greier, 10, is working hard on her 4-H animal projects, with hopes of showing at this year’s Canfield Fair.

She has gone all-out in her second year as a member of the Growing Traditions 4-H Club, for which both of her parents are advisers.

“This year I have two market goats, two breeding goats, a beef feeder, two market steers, and a market pig,” said Lacie, daughter of Wayne and Sara Greier of Canfield,

The market animals are raised by 4-Hers who will let them be auctioned during the fair. The breeding animals are females that will make good future moms and can also be sold at the 4-H auction. The beef feeders are animals that are too young to be sold for meat. They would need to continue to be fed and cared for until they reach the right age to join the food chain.

At last year’s fair, which was Lacie’s first year of 4-H, she took grand champion in market goat, breeding Boer goat and breeding dairy goat. She was reserve champion in dairy market goat; placed first and second in showmanship with her goats and took fifth place with her market pig.

“I am also doing a 4-H cooking project and a first-aid project,” Lacie said. “The first-aid project has me building a first-aid kit and learning how to do different wraps.”

She said three to four hours daily are spent with her goats. In fact, she spends a lot of time with them as part of her task on the family farm in Canfield.

“She has the responsibility for a herd of 200 goats,” said Sara. “When the COVID-19 stay-at-home order went into effect, it just meant Lacie would have more time to spend and interact with the animals.”

FARMING INDUSTRY

As for the farming industry, Sara said the pandemic has not had a big effect as agriculture is essential. The Greiers also run a seed and fertilizer business as well as selling supplies to homeowners for gardens and lawns. Sara said that is one area where she has noticed an increase.

“We are selling more lawn and garden stuff than normal for this time of year,” she said.

The one drop that was apparent involved the grain market. Sara said it has almost dropped lower than the market cost. Sara and Wayne are both glad they have what is called a forward contract. In this type of contract, the farmers sell their crops before the growing season. As an example, if the farm handles 50,000 bushels of corn, Sara said it could sell 40,000 bushels in forward contracts.

“This would guarantee income for that crop,” she said.

The Greiers also carry crop insurance, but that is more for catastrophic situations.

As for the outlook this year, Sara said, “We are behind this year because of the late cold spell, but we are doing way better than last year with the heavy rains. We got our first cut of hay this week, which is right on time.”

The Greiers’ farm is close to 1,400 acres in a partnership with Meander Creek Farms.

4-H MEETINGS

On the 4-H side, Sara said just before the stay-at-home orders in March, the Growing Traditions 4-H Club had a meeting together. Everyone in the club got to socialize with other members prior to isolating.

Since that meeting, Sara and Wayne have been holding virtual meetings and have been able to help out members who had questions or needed advice.

In May, the kids had another challenge to deal with, that being the tagging of 4-H fair project animals. Each year the 4-H animals are normally brought to the fairgrounds to be tagged and vaccinated. The tags declare the animal a 4-H project, and is required for showing and selling at the fair.

“This year families had to stop at the fair office and pick up the tags and vaccine,” Sara said. “They handled them both at home. For those club members who never tagged an animal before, we would stop by and help to guide them through the process. Same goes for the vaccines.”

In the end, Sara said the club members come to realize how important their work is as part of the food chain. She said many local farms are offering fresh meat now.

“There is no meat shortage around here,” Sara said.

One thing Sara pointed out with the 4-H kids, their animal projects often have reserve spots at local butchers. When a person buys a 4-H animal, that butcher appointment can be kept.

As for this year’s fair, Sara said, “With all these kids are going through, it is important to go on with the fair. It is about everything that 4-H stands for.”

Besides her 4-H involvement, Lacie also handles two ponies at the Pony Palace. She has a brother Blake, 8, who will be joining 4-H Cloverbuds this year. Both Lacie and Blake attend South Range schools.

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com