Calf Club

On the 26th of October, I attended the Ngatea Primary School Calf Club with my calf Queen. I have been working on Queen since the beginning of August. Queen is a Friesian calf, and her birthday is on the 9th of July.

On the day, I had to get up really early to be at the farm by 6:45. I washed my calf the best I could and brushed her as much as I possibly could. We put my calf on the trailer, and as she hadn’t travelled before, she pooed everywhere - all over herself and the two calves that were in the trailer with her.

When we arrived at school, I had a look at my calf’s legs, and they were covered in poo. It took a lot of time and effort to clean her, but I did do it!

After a lot of waiting, it was finally time for us to enter the ring. I was in a group with five others, meaning we would all place. Our first event was Obstacle Course. I found it hard to practice this because it was often too muddy to do anything! I went first, and surprisingly, Queen led very well. I ended up in first, which meant I had to go into the champion ring. Again, Queen led very well, and I was the champion! It was my first champion, so I was really proud of myself.

Next was leading, and I didn’t really have much time in between the last event and leading, so I had to go straight there. Again I was first, and Queen was feeling quite distressed. She led well, but it was a little shaky. I got second, meaning that if the person who got first was the champion, then I would be able to come into the champion ring. While I was waiting, Queen was very antsy and she wouldn’t stay still. She tried to sit down, but I didn’t let her - I pulled her back up. The person who was first to me did get the champion, so I got to come into the ring. She led well to start with, but as soon as we turned the corner, she started to become really distressed, and then all of a sudden - she flopped. It was really disappointing because I was hoping to win another champion ribbon, but I was okay.

Next was Rearing, so I really needed to get Queen as clean as I could. I scrubbed my calf super hard until she was as clean as I could get her. I went into the ring, and Queen walked really well, and she stood perfectly still when she needed to be. She was really calm, which was perfect! I placed fourth, and the judge told me that the first four of us were really close, so I was happy with that.

Next was Dairy Type, and there wasn’t much we could really do about that event, so I just waited around until it was time to go into the ring. I gave Queen a bit of a wipe down, and I went into the ring. Queen was getting a bit tired, and she wasn’t very happy, so she wriggled around a lot. The judges took quite a while to judge our animals, but after a while, I was placed in sixth out of seven. I was a bit disappointed with that, but there wasn’t anything I could do.

At prizegiving, I was given the trophy for Obstacle Course, and then I went home. I was very proud of my efforts, and I can’t wait to go to Group Day!