Cleaver Kids

Cleaver Kids, also known as PeeWees, are children under the age of 9 who are able to be a part of the 4-H program. In our 4-H club, most of the members have a few younger siblings that would fit in the Cleaver Kid category. Most of these younguns end up being at most of the meetings anyhow, so this year, we decided to introduce this program to them. We currently have 5 Cleaver Kids. We have made it mandetory however, that you can only have a child as a Cleaver Kid if you also have an older sibling in 4-H. My mom is the leader of our Cleaver Kids so I always find it very intersting to listen to what the kids have all learnt after a meeting. After one meeting, on our way home, my mom was telling about how they had been going over the parts of the cow and how some of the kids had known what some of the parts were that she hadn't even thought of naming. It is impressive to hear how much these young ones already know. I think the Cleaver Kid Program is an awesome opportunity for younger kids to get involved in 4-H and all the exciting things that are brought with that! This is my 8th year in 4-H and every year I continue to learn more. Every year there are new things that are thrown at you to try out.
My younger sister is 8 and is also a Cleaver Kid. She had to pick out a March calf so my dad let her just go about it on her own. Later that day, she came home with the calf's name and eartag number and wanted to begin training right away. She had often showed as a PeeWee in some of the bigger shows, but had never gotten to train the calf on her own or gotten to walk it on her own. Well, this year it was time to change things. The first day we worked with her calf, I started by showing her how to put on the halter right. From htere we just tied her with her head up for a litle while so that she could get used to the halter. The next day, Kristy wanted to start training the calf 'for real' not just with its head tied up. So I took the calf outside a walked one circle with her, then I let Kristy take the calf on her own. Since then, no one has really helped her train her calf. We have given her pointers but haven't been aloud to take the calf from her. The other day, I was feeding calves milk during milking and I realized a calf was missing. It hadn't occured to me that it was Kristy's so I told my dad. He just laughed and told me to go check behind the barn. I went back there, and there she was.
The Cleaver Kid program is something that I think is a great idea. What is wrong with giving younger kids an opportunity to enjoy the experiences that we get to enjoy!
Here are a few pictures of Kristy training her calf and showing in Leduc.

 

 

Our Cleaver Kids have been allowed to judge and clip and from what I have heard, they are excited to be able to participate in our achievement day this weekend! I love having cleaver kids in our club!!