Since Jan. 1, seven Wyoming County 4-H Youth have competed in a contest to win a registered dairy calf of their choice. The 4-H Win-A-Calf Project is a nine-month project where youth keep monthly expense records, research dairy topics, and do an interview all in the hopes to win a registered dairy calf.

Tompkins Bank of Castile sponsors the project. Our winner of this year’s project was Sawyer Pomeroy from Fillmore. Sawyer is a 5-year 4-H member and part of the Southern Rebels 4-H Club. She really enjoyed being a part of the Win-A-Calf project. Pomeroy states, “Not only did I learn a lot about dairy cows themselves, but taking part in the project made me realize how expensive it is to raise a calf. Doing monthly records, I was asked to record miscellaneous costs as well as how much we spent to feed her, and it wasn’t until going over the records that I realized how much work and money goes into raising one calf. That is something that I find very interesting about the project, because being asked to answer questions about our calves, and think about the cost it took to raise them teaches us responsibility. While I enjoyed learning new things about the dairy industry, I think that my favorite part about the project was how being asked to fill out the monthly entries gave me an incentive to work with my calf and create a bond with her. It taught me that the better the relationship is that you have with your calf, the more it makes you want to go outside and work with her, and the more it makes you want to learn all about cows, and what you could do to take better care of her. To me, it made working with my calf much more fun. Since winning the Win-A-Calf project, the breed I have really been wanting is a Brown Swiss calf. I thought it would be fun to show a Brown Swiss, because I have only ever showed a Holstein calf for the five years that I have been showing. I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of the Win-A-Calf project.”

The following 4-H members also competed in this year’s project: Peyton Mest of Yorkshire; Ashton Wilcox of Varysburg; Eva Heineman of Attica; Brooklyn Zielenieski of Arcade; Garrett Lester of Farmersville; and Gavin Carpenter of Attica. The Win-A-Calf project starts every year in January. For further information on the project, please contact the Wyoming County 4-H Program at 585.786.2251 or visit their website at wyoming.cce.cornell.edu/4-h