FRANKLIN TWP — Although it was the final day of the 10-day 2024 Big Butler Fair and exhaustion permeated the barns Saturday, the young people who brought their livestock to show at the event remained diligent in performing their morning chores.

Faith Goldscheitter, 19, perspired as she pushed a wheelbarrow heaped with hay and cow manure toward the designated dumping site outside the cattle barn.

Goldscheitter is a member of the Butler County Dairy Club and the Beef Breeders 4-H Club.

Her folks’ farm in Sarver houses 400 head of cattle, 200 of which are milked.

After waking up in her parents’ camper at the fair, she immediately heads to the cattle barn to feed, water and muck out the stalls of the five dairy and two beef cows she raised and brought to the fair to show.

She also leads the dairy cows to a milking station near the main fair entrance along 422, where they spend an average of five minutes each.

The amount of milk given by the cow depends on how far out she is from delivering a calf, Goldscheitter explained.

Some of her cows will be sold at the end of the Butler Farm Show, where she will spend a week with her bovine charges.

“The money will probably go toward college tuition and all that fun stuff,” Goldscheitter said.

She is studying psychology at Butler County Community College and hopes to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology that will allow her to innovate the study of livestock behavior, which she feels is lacking in the industry.

“There’s not too much research on that,” Goldscheitter said. “I’d like to see what works with them.”

She said belonging to 4-H has been helpful in agriculture and in life.

“I learned you have to be dedicated to these animals and sometimes you’re like ‘I want to quit!’ But you’ve got to keep pushing,” Goldscheitter said.

Carter Perry, 10, has been a member of the Premier Livestock 4-H Club for two years.

Carter brought two sheep and a rabbit to the fair to show, and earned Reserve Grand Champion for his 2-year-old Polish rabbit, Yoda.

“He’s done molting and he has a nice coat,” Carter said of the judge’s decision to award Yoda.

He also showed his two sheep, which he must feed, water and clean up after each morning and evening.

“I like how they’re dumb and smart at the same time,” Carter said of sheep.

He explained the animals will fight over food although plenty is available for both of them, but can recognize he and his parents, and know when it’s feeding time.

Carter’s parents own the Heinz Farm in Center Township, where they tend eight sheep, about 50 cows and Yoda.

Carter said he enjoys attending 4-H meetings.

“It’s fun,” he said. “You get to learn about all the different animals.”

Jackson LeViere, 12, belongs to the Town and Country Kids 4-H Club.

He showed two rabbits at the fair and earned second place in the showmanship class, in which judges look at the person’s skills in handling the animal instead of the animal itself.

Jackson scrapes his rabbits’ cages each morning and feeds and waters the leporidae.

Ask for a fact most people don’t know about rabbits, and Jackson goes straight to the macabre.

“Sometimes the mama rabbits eat their babies,” he said as his mother, Lisa, grabbed her forehead.

His sister, Elizabeth, 8, started in the 4-H feeder program known as Cloverbuds when she was 5. She became an official 4-H member this year.

Elizabeth brought her Harlequin rabbit, Rampage Jr., to show at the fair.

Lisa explained that Rampage Sr. had her ears chewed off when another rabbit became overzealous while grooming her, rendering the deformed rabbit unfit for showing.

Elizabeth said she spends about 15 minutes feeding Rampage Jr. hay and grain, cleaning her cage, and ensuring she has plenty of fresh water.

She wondered why the judge kept coming back to look at Rampage Jr. during her show, and was surprised to earn the Reserve Grand Champion designation.

“Mommy was too,” Elizabeth said. “She told me ‘Don’t get your hopes up.’”

Elizabeth holds the title Butler County Dairy Little Miss, and serves as an agriculture ambassador in that role.

“I like telling people about agriculture, and I love all the tiaras you can get,” she said.

Shawn LeViere said 4-H and the county Dairy Club have had additional benefits for his children besides learning about agriculture.

“The kids are home-schooled, so it's a good way for them to socialize with kids with similar interests,” he said.

The livestock 4-H groups will have a few weeks rest at home before loading up their animals for the Butler Farm Show from Aug. 5 through 10.