CUMBERLAND – The fall fair season marks the end of a year-long responsibility in caring for animals, and it sometimes means saying a painful good-bye.
Cal Randall, 17, a Westbrook High School senior, patted the rump of Chester after the yearling steer sold in a baby beef auction at Cumberland Fair last week.
“It’s a little bit difficult, but I’ve been through it,” said Randall, who also raised hogs in the 4-H program.
Enrollment in 4-H, the youth development program of the nation’s 109 land-grant universities and the Cooperative Extension System, has climbed in Maine. It’s now at 2,765, from 2,576 in 2011 and 2,509 in 2010, according to Jessy Brainerd? of the state’s 4-H office? at the University of Maine. Brainerd said Sept. 30 marks the end of the 4-H year, which begins again on Oct. 1.
“At the moment, we are in the midst of re-enrollment,” Brainerd said.
Randall is a member of the Red and White Faces 4-H group in Gorham, led by Jenn Grant. Randall’s grandfather owns the sprawling cattle farm on Stroudwater Street in Westbrook. The Randall farm last year donated calves to the Cumberland Fair for the scramble.
Randall caught Chester in a calf scramble at the fair a year ago.
Before the baby beef auction on Sept. 26, Randall brushed and spiffed Chester’s coat to make him look his best. Under Randall’s care, the Simmental steer grew to weigh 1,126 pounds.
Bidders at the auction pay well above market prices, giving 4-H members who have footed feed bills a boost.
In the ring, Chester caught the eye of Bob Grondin of R.J. Grondin & Sons, the Gorham construction firm. The winning bidder, Grondin paid $1.60 a pound for Chester.
“I’m happy with it,” Randall said.
Randall plans to put the money toward college. He plans on attending the University of Maine College of Engineering and pursuing environmental studies and agriculture.
Molly Merrifield, a Gorham High School freshman, and her sister, Lexi Merrifield, a Gorham senior, each had entries in the market hog auction. The sisters had the two heaviest hogs in the auction.
Lexi Merrifield’s hog, named Ainslee, weighed in at 292 pounds and sold for $1.65 a pound.
Molly Merrifield’s hog Hank was a 300-pounder and brought $1.80 a pound.
The sisters both belong to the Cumberland Swine Club, while Molly also is a member of the Brass Knobs Steer Club. Both are 4-H groups.
Showing animals at fairs can prove hectic, too.
Their mother, Jo-Ann Merrifield, said this week that Molly showed at both the Big E in Springfield, Mass., and Cumberland Fair on the same day. She took a first, second and third showing her yoke of driving steers while helping represent Maine.
Molly finished showing in Massachusetts at 12:30 p.m., and was scheduled to show her hog at Cumberland just fours later.
With her mother driving, Molly took a nap and changed clothes in the car while en route to Cumberland. Jo-Ann Merrifield dropped her daughter off at Cumberland Fair’s main gate just in time.
Molly was winning the showmanship class and other ribbons while her mother parked the car.
“We got back just at the right time,” Jo-Ann Merrifield said.
As the auctioneer behind her drives up the price per pound, Gorham High School student Molly Merrifield, right, waits with her pig in the bidding area during the 4-H Market Animal Auction at the Cumberland Fair last week.
Gorham High School student Tyler Goodwin tries to control the porcine curiosity of his year-long 4-H project during the Market Animal Auction at the Cumberland Fair last week.
At the end of the 4-H Market Animal Auction, Westbrook High School student Cal Randall, above, says good-bye with a pat on the rump to the 1,126-pound steer he raised for the past year.
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