Grown Here at Home: Botetourt County 4-H Dairy Club shows calves at Cave Hill Dairy Classic

BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - Cave Hill Dairy hosted its first Cave Hill Dairy Classic August 16, giving members of the Botetourt County 4-H Dairy Club a chance to show their calves after they were unable to participate in the county fair this year.

Courtney Henderson, founded the club after returning home from a career with the Virginia Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers program following her 2018 graduation from Virginia Tech.

“This club means like everything to me,” Henderson said. “My overall goal was I’m coming back and giving back to the community. And so I was like, you know, let’s start this club and let’s see where it goes. And this club has become just one of the highlights of my life.”

When the kids were unable to participate in the fair, Henderson and her father came up with an alternative.

“My dad and I kind of sat down and talked about it,” Henderson said. “And he’s like, well, we could just do our own show. And I said, well, yeah, let’s do our own show.”

Preparing for the dairy show required club members to halter break their calves — training the animals to follow a person leading them on a rope, a skill used in day-to-day farm life as well as competition.

Addison Kelly, president of the dairy club, said the process demands commitment.

“You have to learn a lot of dedication to get them to a point to where they really just listen to you and accept the commands and do what they’re supposed to do,” Kelly said.

Club member Paul Turman said the experience was both difficult and worthwhile.

“I really liked raising and halter breaking the calf,” Turman said. “It was very challenging, but it was also rewarding.”

Kennedy Agee participated in the club for the first time this year, following in the footsteps of her brother Joseph.

“My brother did it last year and he had a lot of fun and I got to like see how he did it,” Kennedy said. “So it was pretty cool to come out and do it too.”

Joseph said he values what the club has taught him.

“I just like the cows and how we learn how to walk them and everything,” he said.

Kennedy said one quality is essential when working with show calves.

“Definitely patience with them because you can tell like they work by their schedule,” she said.