Burlington--Seven 4-H'ers gathered at the University of Vermont (UVM) Extension office in South Burlington on March 26 for the State 4-H Sheep and Goat Quiz Bowl and Skill-a-thon.
The annual event, sponsored by UVM Extension 4-H, provided an opportunity for youths, ages 8-18, to learn about a number of different topics relating to sheep and goats in addition to networking with experts and their peers. Participants rotated around four learning stations, both to better understand the topics as well as prepare for the quiz bowl that followed. The latter was just for fun so no scores or rankings were recorded.
4-H participants were Hailey and Emily Feltz, Colchester; Sadie Hunt, Addison; Natalie Layn, Bristol; and Alexis, Erin and Katherine Whipple, Bridport.
Brad Ferland, Fairfax, taught them about lambing and kidding while Bekah Parent, Bridport, talked about show box equipment. The participants also learned about sheep and goat diseases from Jill Merkell, Richmond, and types of fleeces from Siri Swanson, Orwell.
Following the quiz bowl, participants and their parents heard from Wendy Sorrell, 4-H livestock educator and event coordinator, about upcoming 4-H sheep and goat events while enjoying ice cream sandwiches.
For more information about the Vermont 4-H sheep and goat projects, contact Sorrell at (802) 651-8343, ext. 513, or (800) 571-0668 (toll-free in Vermont) or wendy.sorrell@uvm.edu.