ROME TOWNSHIP – Sunday morning started with a flip of the scale switch as 4-H and FFA members across the county brought their livestock to the day-long weigh-ins.

Monday, July 10, 2000

ROME TOWNSHIP – Sunday morning started with a flip of the scale switch as 4-H and FFA members across the county brought their livestock to the day-long weigh-ins.

Inside the barn, pigs, lambs and steer settled in as their young owners toted sawdust and water into stalls.

Parents and neighbors wandered around, looking at animals with smiles of approval and comparing notes on the best ways to raise them.

At the weigh-in station, 4-H extension agent Laura Jane Murphy said the county fair’s featured attraction – the livestock shows featuring about 140 pigs, more than 50 lambs and 31 steer – will turn a few heads this year.

"Everybody’s working together and from what I’ve seen they are good quality animals," Ms. Murphy said. "The kids are doing a good job.

"They’ve come prepared for the whole week."

And the children are what makes the fair, said David Payne as he toured the steer stalls.

When Payne was a young man, he didn’t get a chance to try 4-H, he said.

In later years, Payne put his energy into helping children – not only as the county’s juvenile judge but also as a farmer who helped dozens of 4-H children with their animal projects.

"Those kids over there, playing in the pens," he said, pointing a few empty stalls away. "That’s what it’s all about.

"They get to see the animals and experience some things they might not have experienced."

Over in the feeder calf section, Dog Fork Haymakers club members Kyle Evans and Tyler Dickess will heartily share what they have experienced with project animals.

"I look forward mostly to having fun," Evans said.

His idea of fun: Brushing his calf, showing his calf, walking the fairgrounds with friends and taking an occasional carnival ride.

Some people get too caught up with only making the money from their project, the young Evans said.

"I like to have fun and then sell it and get my money for college," he said.

Dickess, taking a break from pigs while looking at his friend’s calf, said the hardest part of showing animals is predicting what the judges expect.

"There’s a bunch of good pigs here, so it depends on what the judge is looking for," the former reserve grand champion said.

Last year, the judge was looking for the best cut of meat because he worked in a butcher shop, Dickess said.

And that’s just fine with him. The 4-Her raises his pigs with the intent of building their muscle, which makes them better for market, he said.

"If you just feed them and walk them in the yard a lot, they’ll build muscle," he added.

Then, there’s Dickess’s little secret – a ramp up to the feed and water.

"That builds muscle, too," he said.