Clover Buzz January 2024

Hello!

Hello, and welcome to our very first Clover Buzz newsletter! This will be a monthly online publication detailing all the happenings of Houston County 4-H! The newsletter will be published and posted each month on the Houston UT Extension and 4-H Club facebook page and on our website: houston.tennessee.edu. Be sure to check in each month to keep track of when club meetings are, what teams are available, and so much more!

2023 Highlights

We are so excited to move in to a new year! But first, lets take a look back at our 2023 Houston County 4-H Highlights.

• 166 4-H Members competed in the 4-H Public Speaking Contest. Steely Parker (4th grade), Nelly Jones (5th Grade), Annaliese Thornsberry (7th Grade) and Alyssa Marlin (8th Grade) each advanced to the sub-regional contest. Brayden Carter (9th Grade) Advanced to the regional contest.
• 52 4-H members competed in the 4-H Poster art contest. Congratulations to Victor Collett (4th Grade) for placing 1st in the county and advancing to the regional contest.
• Over 50 4-H members competed in our cookie baking contest.
• Our Jr. High Meat Identification Team (Ella Coleman, Kaitlyn Holbrook, and Romy Rye) Were the Jr. High Reserve Grand Champions! Our Highschool team, (Augustus Rye, Elisha Coleman, and Adam Sasser) were the High School Reserve Grand Champions and state qualifiers!
• 20 4-H members across the county submitted piggy banks for the Piggy Bank Pageant. Adelyn Hinson (4th Grade), Zachary Proctor (5th Grade), Liddie Luffman (6th Grade), Presleigh Albright (7th Grade), and Alyssa Marlin (8th Grade) were chosen to advance to the state competition.
• The Senior High Wildlife Team were the Reserve Grand Champions and State Qualifiers. The Team consisted of Brayden Carter, Adam Sasser, Elisha Coleman, and Augustus Rye.
• 143 4-H Members gave demonstrations.
• We had 7 teams this year. Meat ID, Equine Judging, Wildlife Judging, Outdoor Meat Cookery, Forestry Judging, Livestock Judging and Livestock quiz-bowl.
• 2 4-H members attending our 4-H quilting camp and completed their very own quilt.
• We had 22 4-H members attend camp (exceeding our goal of 20 campers). We had a blast!
• Our Senior High Outdoor Meat Cookery Team were the Reserve Grand Champions of the day and state qualifiers. The team consisted of Adam Sasser, Augustus Rye, Elisha Coleman, and Will Manners. Will Manners, Augustus Rye, and Romy Rye each received overall high scoring individuals in their divisions.
• 22 families participated in Chick Chain. 17 4-H members brought their chickens to the show at the Houston County Fair. Congratulation to Sloane Dobbins for receiving the Grand Champion award.
• We Had 5 Students participate in the Clifty Farms Country Ham project. Each student cured their own ham from start to finish. Each participant auctioned their ham off at the Houston County Fair for over $300 per ham.
• We held our annual 4-H award banquet at the Houston County Fair.
• Our Jr. High Livestock Judging Team (Jonathan Holbrook, Kaitlyn Holbrook, and Romy Rye) Placed 1st at the regional competition. Our Senior high team (Augustus Rye, Adam Sasser, Will Manners, and Elisha Coleman) places 3rd overall and qualified for state.

Overall we had an exceptional year for Houston County 4-H! Thank you to each and every person or business that supported us this year, and thank you to all of the 4-H parents and volunteers! It truly takes everyone to make such a successful program!