4-H begins in LaMoure County in the 1920's
BY EMMA BARTLE

During the 1920s 4-H was beginning to really get started in LaMoure County. In 1923, the County Extension Agent’s Annual Report noted for the first time that there were clubs for the youth in the county.

In 1923, Girls Food Club at LaMoure was organized during the year and they took a demonstration team to the State Fair in Grand Forks to represent the county. There were also four Girls Sewing Clubs and one Dairy Heifer Boys Club in 1923.

During 1924, C.H. Pollock, the County Agricultural Agent, sent out a ballot of interest for farmers and included youth club interests for their children. There was interest in starting corn growing clubs, pig clubs, sewing and clothing clubs, food clubs, and poultry clubs. Throughout the year there was one active girls food club and two girls sewing clubs. The Swede School Number Three Club had a demonstration team at the State Fair and performed their demonstration at the Farmers Picnic at the Edgeley Experimental Farm.

During 1925, there was a Girls Foods Club at Grand Rapids with ten members and one at Jud with sixteen members. In Swede Township there was a Girls Sewing Club with six members.

In 1926, there were fifty-one boys and girls involved in four clubs. The Junior Food Club members at Jud canned 127 quarts of vegetables and forty quarts of fruit and sent Rose Schuls and Pearl Drenth as delegates to the State Achievement Institute in Fargo.

The Girls Sewing Club at Nortonville with twenty-one members was organized and throughout the year they made ninety garments valued at $121.25.

The Sunshine Baby Beef Club at Edgeley had seven members and participated in the Junior Livestock Show in Fargo on December 14. They also had a state and inter-state demonstration team.

The Junior Poultry Club of LaMoure had twelve members who received two first place and three second place awards at the Corn and Poultry Shows in Verona and Edgeley.

The 1927 Annual County Extension Agent report was unavailable.

In December 1927, the Sunshine Baby Beef Club of Edgeley participated in the Club Show and Sale in Fargo. Melvin Musland took first, Donald Murray finished in second, Melvin Musland took third, Glen Olson took fourth, and Milton Musland took fifth. They received twenty-two cents to twenty-four cents per pound for their calves and each member received $111.24 to $190.94 for their calves after expenses were taken out.

In 1928 there were thirteen junior clubs with 140 boys and girls involved.

The Sunshine Baby Beef Club of Edgeley had ten members that feed Angus and Hereford calves for market. They took time to learn about the calves and at one meeting they toured each of the members calves.

In April the Junior Dairy Club at Adrian was organized. They held meetings to talk about the care and management of dairy calves.

During the year, the Junior Sheep Club of Edgeley sold lambs and wool amounting to $217.30. They were involved in the Junior Livestock Show in Fargo in December 1927. At this show, Glenn Olson received Grand Championship of the show with his lamb and the five members all placed in the top eight in a class of twenty-three lambs.

The LaMoure Junior Poultry Club sent Percival Larson and Gordon Brandes to the State Fair in Grand Forks with their demonstration "Control of Lice and Mites in Poultry". They received second place at state and the opportunity to participate in a 3-week state tour with a Special Dairy and Poultry Train that stopped in different locations where they would present their demonstration.

In 1929, fourteen delegates where chosen to represent the county at the Boys’ and Girls’ Achievement Institute in Fargo in December.

The Sunshine Baby Beef Club of Edgeley sent Glenn Olson, Melvin Musland, and Donald Murray to the 4-H Club Judging Contest at the State Fair. They took fifth place overall out of fifteen teams. They took fourth in beef cattle and sheep, sixth place in dairy cattle, seventh place in hogs, and eleventh place in horses.

The Sunshine Fat Lamb Club of Edgeley took a trip to the Strutz farm in Jamestown to observe show animals and hear leading sheep authorities of the state speak about breeds and feeding.

The Poultry Club of LaMoure exhibited birds at the Ransom County Poultry Show, the State Fair in Fargo, and the Community Fair.

June 19 to June 26, 1929, Glen Olson of Edgeley traveled to Washington, D.C. as a delegate for North Dakota 4-H along with three other 4-H members. They attended the National Club encampment there.

Glen Olson wrote an essay about what club work can do for farm boys and girls. In this he said that " I believe it is the club boy of today who takes a keen interest in his work that is going to be the successful farmer of the future." 4-H had helped him to learn more about animals through his LaMoure County 4-H stock judging team membership. In which he was able to hear some of the leading stock authorities speak and he said that this was the only way to receive this valuable information.

These clubs were very active in local and state fairs and demonstration teams. Many different times during the year the county and state agents would visit the clubs at one of their meetings to discuss with them their particular subject (corn, poultry, etc.). The clubs began to become very active towards the end of the 1920s.