I pledge my head to clearer thinking
My heart to greater loyalty
My hands to larger service
And my health to better living
For my club
My community
My country
And my world.
These words are shared by 6 million 4-H members throughout the United States. An organization dedicated to guiding youth in developing the skills required to succeed in life, 4-H encourages healthy living, citizenship and education—all with a deep tie to local communities. The McKinley Vikings 4-H Chapter in Polk County, Wisconsin, embodied these ideals as they raised funds to build a scale barn and furnish it with Rice Lake’s SAS single animal livestock scale.
Jordon Hibbs, whose children are part of the McKinley Vikings 4-H, describes the need for a new barn and SAS single animal livestock scale: “The weigh-in used to be an all-day event. We got to the show barn early in the morning to make room for the mechanical scale, brought the scale in and then spent the rest of the day trying to corral cattle onto the scale.” There was no alley system to guide the animals in an orderly fashion, making the process difficult, time-consuming and potentially unsafe. Without an alley and chute, adult volunteers were responsible for controlling the young cattle who, at this point, were not reasonably halter broken and could easily become unmanageable.
Seeing a need for improvement in both process time and safety, Hibbs approached the Polk County Fair board and asked for a separate space to weigh animals. Members of the fair board evaluated the process and approved the building of a brand-new barn that would be used specifically for weigh-ins. However, with no funding source, the project would need sponsors and donations to begin.
The McKinley Vikings 4-H immediately started fundraising for the new barn. “It was great to see the initiative the kids took,” says Hibbs. “They piled into cars and approached the community for donations. Many of the kids even donated their own money.”
It didn’t take long. Shortly after the scale barn was approved, enough funds were raised to start building. Before construction could officially begin, however, plans for the building needed to be finalized. Since the main purpose of the building is to weigh animals, choosing the right scale was arguably the most important piece of the puzzle.
