Bonnie Young accepts the showmanship award for showing her doe, Max.

My name is Bonnie Young and I am 17 years old. I have been a member of the North Osage 4-H Club for 11 years. Projects I enrolled and participated in this year were horse and meat goats.

I’ve been showing horses in 4-H for 11 years. I have also been a member of the Christian Youth Rodeo Association for the last 3 years. I have a horse named Dollar. I compete with him in barrel racing. He is an American Quarter Horse, and his registered name is “FCS Twice the Cash”. He was originally bred to be a race horse, but he didn’t make the cut. At the Osage City fair horse show, I competed in the speed events. They consist of the flag race, pole bending and barrel racing. Our county horse leader is Dorothy Chistiason. She has helped me tremendously over the years. I have known her since I was 7 years old. She is a real cowgirl.

This year I showed two meat goats at the Overbrook fair. They are Boer goats, which are bred specifically for meat purposes. I purchased a whether and a doe from a local breeder who encourages the meat goat project in 4-H. I sold my market goat at the Overbrook Livestock Sale and turned a $100 profit. I plan to use the money to buy another meat goat next year.

One of my best friends, Paige, named my doe “Goateus Maximus”, but I just call her Max. She got a red ribbon in the breeding class. I spent a lot of time working with her over the summer, so I knew Max would be my showmanship goat. I ended up winning reserve grand champion senior showman. I am looking forward to showing her again next year. She will have time to get bigger and be more competitive in the breeding class.

I plan on continuing my youth rodeo career and look forward to showing my goats again next summer. It’s hard to believe I’m almost done in 4-H, as it’s been such a big part of my life.

Celebrating National 4-H Week, Oct. 6-12, 2019