Celebrating another year of 4-H farming

NORTH CANAAN — The Busy Farmers Dairy Cattle 4-H club held its annual recognition and awards banquet on Nov. 22 at Laurelbrook Farm in East Canaan.  

The Jacquier family has generously hosted this annual event  as well as opening their home as the meeting place for the club. They can now boast of four  generations of Busy Farmers.

The club also owes thanks to  some of the local dairy farmers, who will lease a calf to a young 4-H member who may not have a farm, but wishes to raise a heifer for the year and then return it to the farmer.

The club recognized its co-leaders, Sandy Boardman and Wendy Kennedy, at the banquet.  

This year’s new officers were installed, including Arielle Betti as president, Rene Boardman as vice president, Ricky Boardman as secretary, Shelby Jacquier as treasurer, Jackie Johnson as reporter, Morgan Betti as historian, Tucker Whiting as sentinel and Ian Allen as parliamentarian.  

The club members meetmonthly and take part in many lectures, group projects and hands-on demonstrations about the care, feeding, fitting and showing of dairy cattle. They work with community members to put on the Jack Brown Fair in East Canaan in early August. The following week, as the culmination of their annual project, they show at the Litchfield County 4-H Fair at the Goshen Fairgrounds.

The club has members from surrounding towns including North Canaan, Sheffield, Cornwall, Kent and Winchester.  It was established in 1946 as a reorganization of the Canaan Dairy 4-H Club.

Jackie Johnson is the reporter for the Busy Farmers Dairy Cattle 4-H Club in North Canaan.

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