4-H Bingham County Fair wraps up Wednesday

Fair season is underway and one of the first big events of the season wrapped up on Wednesday.

The 4-H Bingham County Fair began last Friday and finished up in Blackfoot on the last day of July.

“This is our 27th year as Bingham County,” Sherrie Mecham, president of the sale committee, explained.

Mecham has been part of the fair for many years and said this year has been a busy one.

Both she and her kids took part in the 4-H events and now it’s something she says is a good way to teach kids about responsibility.

“Steers have like 160 days that they need to feed, they have to walk, they have to take care of them … Just the responsibility they have to, you know, they have to get up and feed them and keep records,” she said.

“They have to turn in a record book on them, of how much they fed him, how much it cost them and that’s just gonna be beneficial for them in the future so.”

That responsibility is something that 15-year-old Merced Carter knows well from prepping her steer Big Mac.

“At home, I fed him twice a day, and I would feed him french fries and rolled oats with molasses, water and alfalfa, so he could gain as much weight as possible,” Carter explained.

But she didn’t just feed him. Carter trained him to walk with the halter and how to pose for the judges. She said working with Big Mac has taught her to always keep trying.

“My animal was a little sketchy at first, he was afraid of me. But he learned to trust me because I fed him every day,” Carter said. “He likes me then because I gave him food.”

Speaking of food, cows aren’t the only animals on display. Goats and lambs also made a showing.

The first lamb of the boards was Boss, raised by six-year-old Kodi Pratt. Aside from raising lambs, she also dabbles in sheep.

“I have a lot of sheep,” Pratt said, “I have goats at my house too.”

At six, Pratt is too young to officially participate, so she has someone show her animal for her.

Now in her third year, Pratt’s raised more than $9,000 for the Bingham County Endowment Fund.