4-H: Selling pigs, learning life lessons

Ten-year-old Ryan Elias Meneely comes from five generations of ranchers on his mother’s side, and if this past Sunday is any indication, there could be a sixth.

For the second year in a row Ryan, a member of the White Pine 4-H Club, could be seen in the sale arena with a pig project. He guided his 217-pound pig, Fred Jones Meneely, around the pen of wood shavings at the Blaine County Fair, as observers filled the bleachers; men in jeans and baseball caps shouting out bids.

In the end, Fred Jones netted Ryan $850 from the top bidder, Shipwheel Cattle Company, based in Chinook.

“I’m gonna miss Fred,” said Ryan after the auction ended. “He’s a pig, you work with him a lot and you get to know him.”

Sunday was the culmination of five months of raising Fred, working with him, feeding him and tending to his needs. That day, at this year’s Blaine County 4-H & FFA Youth Livestock Sale, these two friends parted ways.

4-H, founded in 1902 to train young people in agriculture, has become a staple of life in farming communities and there are county chapters throughout the country. People remain active with it well into adulthood.

“It’s become a way of life,” said one woman whose children and grandchildren were members and who herself remains active on the 4-H scene.

Shandel Fouts of Turner is the embodiment of that ethos. She and her father, who are 4-H volunteers in their community, made the 40-mile journey to the fairgrounds in Chinook for this event just like she did with her grandparents and the rest of her family as a child.

“It makes a difference in, like, your work ethic and you get a different set of values from it,” said Fouts about her experience with 4-H. “It kind of makes me the person that I am, I can contribute a lot of that to 4-H.”

4-H has sought to instill in its members a series of values, among them teamwork, as fellow members seek to enrich themselves as well as their communities through collaboration.

Despite the goal-setting and effort to win ribbons and accolades, members are willing to put aside the desire for personal recognition for the good of the greater cause.

“They don’t look at it as ‘that’s my competition,’ they look at it as ‘that’s my friend’ and let’s make sure this pig gets watered,” Fouts said. Even though the values promoted by 4-H such as goal setting, leadership and community service seem timeless, the organization has evolved with the times, she said. While a strong focus on agricultural activities such as raising livestock remain a cornerstone of the program, members can also do projects in fields such as robotics, quilting, crafts, culinary arts, woodworking and even photography.

Shandel’s brother, for example, once restored a $300 car he had purchased from a junkyard as part of a “self-determine” project, an effort that may not fall under one of 4-H’s traditional categories. The organization, though, grants its members flexibility.

The fair has concluded this year. Ater the bids ceased and the people filed out of the auction hall, Ryan Elias McNeeley has a new year ahead of him. Last year he auctioned off another pig, Roxy and then turned his attention to raising Fred Jones. Now that Fred Jones has been sold, what lies ahead for Ryan? He said he doesn’t know if he will raise and submit another pig for auction next year. Either way, Ryan has goals. He wants to go to college someday and become a professional football player.